China has extended its ban on pork products to include the province of Tarragona, a significant blow to the Catalan meat industry which comes just weeks after a similar restriction was placed on Barcelona. The decision follows the European Union’s approval of new containment zones for an outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF), which local authorities claim has erroneously included parts of Tarragona.

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Ignasi Pons, the secretary general of the Meat and Meat Industries Business Federation (Fecic), confirmed the news on Tuesday, in comments reported by La Vanguardia. The ban places Tarragona’s pork producers in the same challenging position as those in Barcelona, who lost access to the lucrative Chinese market after initial ASF cases in wild boars were detected in Cerdanyola del Vallès.

Tarragona’s pork sector comprises 382 farms, predominantly located in the Terres de l’Ebre region, and accounts for approximately 7% of Catalonia’s total production. The closure of the Chinese market, a key destination for Catalan pork, represents a major economic setback for these producers.

A Controversial Zoning Map

Spain proposed a new zoning map, which the EU’s Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (PAFF Committee) unanimously approved last Friday in Brussels. This map triggered the expanded ban. This map establishes special control measures for African Swine Fever, a highly contagious viral disease affecting pigs and wild boars, but not humans.

However, the approved map controversially includes the Tarragona municipalities of Cunit and Calafell within this ZRI buffer zone.

Catalan officials have reacted with disbelief. The Department of Agriculture of the Generalitat de Catalunya has labelled the inclusion of the Tarragona towns an “error”, pointing out that they are located 35 kilometres away from the most recent ASF outbreaks. Ignasi Pons of Fecic also expressed his surprise at the inclusion of these municipalities and at the closure of the Chinese market to Tarragona’s pork sector.

Diplomatic Efforts to Correct the ‘Error’

The Catalan government confirms that efforts are already underway to rectify the map. Sources within the Department of Agriculture stated the issue is an administrative mistake that will be fixed through dialogue between Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture and the European Commission. Spain’s Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, has reportedly already made contact with the Commission regarding the matter.

Crucially, the ASF outbreak in Catalonia has, to date, only affected the wild boar population. Authorities have detected 162 notified cases in 31 separate clusters after examining over 1,300 animals since the first outbreaks in late November.

Crucially, no domestic pig farms have been affected.

Authorities recently expanded the containment zone after discovering a new case outside the original ‘zero zone’ in Sant Feliu de Llobregat, prompting a wider response that now, contentiously, impacts Tarragona’s trade.

The Spanish Ministry of Agriculture stated Tuesday that the new EU-approved zonification is intended to permit the movement of domestic pigs and their products from within the restricted zones, provided they comply with strict biosecurity and surveillance measures. While designed to facilitate controlled trade within Europe, the measure has had the opposite effect on exports to China, which operates a zero-tolerance policy for provinces with any form of ASF restriction.

For an industry that recently welcomed reduced tariffs from Beijing, this expanded ban is a severe setback. The speed at which Spanish and European officials can renegotiate the zoning boundaries will be critical in determining the economic fallout for Tarragona’s farmers.