Defra has announced it has implemented a regionalisation agreement with Spain, following the shock discovery of African swine fever since 1994 in wild boar near Barcelona last week.
Spanish pork imports to the UK have been on the rise this year. In the first nine months of 2025, the UK imported 56,000t of pigmeat products from Spain, 11% up on 2024
Defra initially announced that all fresh pork and other affected products from Spain would be held at Border Control Posts until further notice, and that it would continue to monitor the situation and keep all measures under review.
A further notice has been added today confirming the introduction regionalisation measures, applying to, it appears, the whole of Catalonia. It stated: “Regionalisation measures and restrictions for ASF in Spain have now been implemented and reflected in the relevant third-country lists, following confirmation of the restricted zones by the Spanish authorities.
“This means that trade from outside the restricted zones can now resume as normal and trade from within the restricted zones is restricted (live porcines and fresh porcine meat) or subject to additional conditions (meat products). Porcine semen is restricted from the entire territory of Spain.”
Catalonia is Spain most important pig-producing region, responsible for a quarter of its commercial pigs and 40% of its processing capacity. It is also understood to have a large population of wild boar.
The government’s list of approved exporters to the UK have been updated, as below:
- live porcines – Live+Ungulates.pdf
- porcine semen – Porcine+Semen.pdf
- porcine meat – Fresh+Meat+of+Ungulates.pdf
- porcine meat products – Meat+Products.pdf
Defra states that OVs must apply the regionalisation measures and restrictions to:
- consignments of live porcines, porcine semen, and porcine meat or meat products from Spain currently held at ports.
- any future consignments received at ports.
It adds that these measures are the same as for any other EU Member State with ASF.