An agreement signed this week between the governments of France and China will allow pork producers in the European country to export pig meat in the Asian market even if an African swine fever (ASF) outbreak will occur in the future. During his visit to China in November 2019, the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, had agreed with the President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, to carry out work aimed at China's recognition of applying the principle of "zoning" in the case an African swine fever (ASF) outbreak is declared on French territory.

The U.S. is continuing to take steps to keep African swine fever out of the country. USDA recently announced that it has approved blood swabs and spots as official African swine fever (ASF) testing tissues.

The number of farms that got infected with African Swine Fever in Poland has risen rapidly over the last few weeks. At the moment 16 farm sites have been confirmed infected. The developments happen at a moment that numbers of infected wild boar rise in Western Poland and Germany, which is uncommon for the summer months.

So far this year, seven outbreaks of ASF have been detected in domestic pigs, three of them in the Lodzkie Voivodeship.

Other challenges for pork production in 2021 will be the global trade environment and high feed costs.