Austria and the Czech Republic have banned the import of live pigs and pork from Germany following an outbreak of swine fever in two northern German states Mecklenburg-West Pomerania and Lower Saxony.

Belguim has already imposed a ban on German pigs and pork products, and Denmark has said it is ready to break EU free trade rules in order to stop swine fever spreading to Danish pig-farms.

The Danes are the world leaders in pork production, and exported pork worth 23.5 bn corona($3.42 bn) in 1997. No case of the disease, which is highly contagious and usually fatal to pigs, has been recorded in Denmark since the 1930s.

European Union officials imposed a partial ban on live German pig exports on Wednesday, and may ask individual states to drop unilateral action in favour of the Union-wide rulings.

Swine fewer has spread from the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pommerania to Lower Saxony, state officials said.

Breeders are tackling one of their worst outbreaks of the fever and the local agricultural ministry ordered owners in the region to slaughter more than 77,000 pigs.

The disease was first detected on one of the country's largest pig farms in Losten in the northeast where all 62,000 have been slaughtered.

German farm minister Jochen Borchert said Germany would combat the renewed outbreak of swine fever vigorously and chances of bringing it under control quickly were high.

"We have to prevent the spreading of the disease from wild boars to pigs," Borchert told journalists during the Green Week farm fair.

The EU is to monitor German measures such as tightening hygiene regulations and limiting the number of boar herds.
 

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