Pork meat producers from 37 Romanian counties have been prevented from exporting their products to the rest of the EU since 2007, since these areas were affected by outbreaks of classical swine fever. “Since we have not had classical swine fever outbreaks since 2007, we can say that Romania has a better epidemiological status in this regard,” an ANSVSA communiqué read.
This was confirmed by the European Commission’s Standing Committee on Safety of the Food Chain and Animal Health, which has decided to lift the restrictions following inspections “that recognised the improvement in the performance of the Romanian vet services”. This will enable the country’s 300 commercial pig holdings to sell their products outside the country from the beginning of next year.
Romania’s agriculture minister Daniel Constantin hailed the decision as having the potential to bring revenues of up to €1bn to the Romanian pork meat industry.
Even so, Tudor Stanca, executive director of the Romanian Association of Meat Pork Producers (APCPR), believes production will still be mainly destined for the domestic market, where the demand is higher than supply: “In general, the pork meat producing and processing sector will remain oriented towards the domestic market, since it benefits from high demand, lower logistical costs due to proximity and a longer warranty period than the one offered by imports,” he told Globalmeatnews.com.
According to him, the European Commission’s decision “creates conditions for Romanian producers to respond to external demands for processed pork meat products and higher-value cuts, but only when the European or third-country markets ensure better prices than the domestic market”.
However, he welcomed that the change would allow Romanian farmers and pork meat processors to trade under the same conditions as other EU producers.