Belarus limits pork imports from four Ukrainian regions

"According to a report by the World Organization for Animal Health [OIE] from October 12, 2017, new cases of ASF outbreaks were recorded in Odesa, Luhansk, Vinnytsia and Rivne regions of Ukraine," reads the department's directive.

The ban is applicable to imports of live pigs, zoo and circus animals of susceptible species, sperm materials of boars, as well as pork and products made of it, tannery, horns, hooves, and casing, game, and other raw materials obtained from susceptible animal species.

The department also imposed restrictions on the import of feed and feed additives containing raw pig materials from Odesa, Luhansk, Vinnytsia and Rivne regions, as well as on equipment used to transport, keep, slaughter pigs.

The ban is not applicable to ready fodder and additives for pet food of plant origin and to those made of poultry and fish after thermal processing.

Read alsoAfrican swine fever quarantine in effect in 23 villages in 15 Ukrainian regionsThe department also emphasized that the restrictions do not apply to permits issued in agreement with the Belarusian agricultural and food committees concerning oilseed meal, which is heat-treated during processing and used for the production of feed for animals and valuable fish species.

According to open source data, 126 ASF cases have been reported in Ukraine since the beginning of 2017. In total, 274 ASF outbreaks had been registered in 24 Ukrainian regions since 2012, as of October 23, 2017.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the government proposed to increase by six times the financing of the Ukrainian State Food Safety and Consumer Protection Service in 2018 to combat dangerous animal viral diseases, in particular ASF. Thus, financing of anti-epizootic activities in the next year will grow from UAH 113.7 million ($4.3 million) in 2017 to UAH 687.2 million ($25.9 million).

Head of the State Food Safety and Consumer Protection Service Volodymyr Lapa says that if the current trend of the ASF spread continues, Ukraine will lose over 1.2 million pigs, or UAH 4 billion, by 2020, while indirect losses will increase by an amount estimated between UAH 5 billion and UAH 7.5 billion.

He forecasts that the total number of outbreaks in 2017 might grow to 200-250 cases.