By Emma Pinedo and Jesus Calero
MADRID, Dec 2 (Reuters) - A taskforce of EU vets specialising in epidemics began work in Barcelona on Tuesday as Spain seeks to contain an African swine fever outbreak that has forced it to halt some pork exports.
The experts in virology and risk management will visit a 6-km exclusion zone around the affected area in Bellaterra to survey the situation, provide advice and prepare a follow-report with recommendations, a European Commission spokesperson said.
Spain is the EU's leading pork producer, accounting for a quarter of the bloc's output, ahead of Germany, with annual exports worth about 3.5 billion euros ($4.05 billion).
It resumed shipments on Monday from other regions to China, which accounts for almost 42% of Spanish pork exports outside the EU, after Beijing confirmed it would only limit imports from the Barcelona area, in line with a recently-signed regionalisation agreement.
But other countries including Britain, Mexico and Canada have suspended a wide range of pork and by-product shipments from across Spain. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged them to continue buying from regions outside the containment zone.
"It is very important to keep markets beyond Europe open for pork exports," Sanchez said in an interview on TVE.
OUTBREAKS AROUND EUROPE
The EU taskforce was most recently deployed in September to help monitor a swine fever outbreak in Estonia.
Croatia is also trying to contain an outbreak, while Italy and Germany have recorded cases in recent years that have prompted the culling of pigs.
"Biosecurity measures must be reinforced even more with three countries (Spain, Italy and Germany) around us now affected," said Anne Richard, director of French pork industry association Inaporc.
Officials suspect the virus may have spread after a wild boar ate contaminated food, possibly a sandwich brought from outside Spain. The virus is harmless to humans, but spreads rapidly among pigs and wild boar, for whom it can be fatal.
It was detected in two wild boar in a wooded, hilly area outside Barcelona and a further eight are being tested.
The outbreak could allow U.S. farmers to export more.
"With more EU countries finding ASF within their borders, U.S. producers have an opportunity to meet global demand," U.S. consultancy Steiner Consulting Group said.
U.S. pork exports are expected to fall by 0.3% to 6.96 billion pounds in 2026, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"If the recent outbreak in Spain is not contained, we would expect U.S. pork exports to once again surpass 7 billion pounds," Steiner Consulting said.
(Reporting by Emma Pinedo and Jesus Calero; additional reporting by Gus Trompiz and Tom Polansek; writing by Charlie Devereux; editing by Alexander Smith)
