Japan CSF outbreak will not directly impact Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — The recent outbreak of the classical swine fever (CSF) in Japan poses no threat to the Philippine hog industry due to the availability of a vaccine, according to Agriculture Secretary William Dar.

“CSF or more commonly known as hog cholera is a common disease of swine in the Philippines which we have vaccines at affordable prices,” Dar told The STAR in a text message.

Dar said Japan was among the countries that was once recognized by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) as a CSF-free country.

According to a news report by NHK World over the weekend, officials of the Tochigi Prefecture in the North of Tokyo affirmed the first cases of the CSF in two pig farms. Around 37,000 hogs will be culled, which is the largest number since the CSF resurfaced in the country in 2018.

The outbreak in 2018 caused the OIE to suspend Japan’s CSF-free status.

Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines Inc. president Edwin Chen echoed Dar’s sentiment that the new CSF outbreak poses no threat to the Philippine hog industry due to the availability of vaccines.

Apart from this, the Philippines does not import pork from Japan, Meat Importers and Traders Association (MITA) president Jess Cham told The STAR in a Viber message.

According to data from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), the Philippines did not import any pork meat in the first three months of the year.

“But if Japan imports more, then it may affect global supply and push price up,”Cham said.

Data from the United States Department of Agriculture-Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS) show that Japan was the second largest market of pork imports from the US in 2020.

Total value of US pork imports to Japan grew seven percent to $1.6 billion last year from $1.5 billion in the 2019, mainly driven by the implementation of lower tariffs under the US-Japan Trade Agreement.