The National Pig Association (NPA) has said the inability to export breeding animals to the EU, due to new Brexit requirements, is damaging the UK pig sector.
Rebecca Veale was speaking on BBC Farming Today about how the new requirement for Border Control Posts (BCP) to inspect animals exported from, and imported to the UK, is causing disruption across the livestock sectors.
Questioned about the impact on pigs, Veale said: “Unfortunately, on the routes through seaports we would use, there are currently no Border Control Posts.”
She highlighted how BCPs were an issue for individual companies and not something EU governments had control over.
She said the NPA was “working really hard with some countries who are interested in putting a BCP in place”, but stressed, while progress is being made, none are accepting live animals.
‘It is really important that we export breeding animals’
“For the pig industry in the UK, it is really important that we export breeding animals,” she added.
“There are a small number of breeding companies and the ability for them to operate in this country and abroad is of relevance to all producers.”
NPA senior policy adviser Charlie Dewhirst updated the NPA Pig Industry Group on the search for new BCPs at EU ports at its latest meeting.
A possible site has been found inland near Calais, although it still needs approval from the French authorities and Brussels.
Other options include the Hook of Holland and Zeebrugge. However, none of the facilities have yet been constructed, so it is likely to be some time before exports can resume.
