While the news on the COVID-19 front sparks off panic around the world, Germany has been caught off-guard by a new challenge in its agriculture. A few cases of African swine fever have been confirmed in the eastern state of Brandenburg. The outbreak of the highly contagious disease is sure to disrupt the domestic economy under normal conditions. However, this is going to deal a devastating blow to the German economy crippled by the pandemic. Germany is acknowledged to be Europe’s largest pork producer and the major supplier to China. Nowadays, pork exports beyond the EU are banned. Swine flu has hit farms in Brandenburg so far, but experts do not rule out a further spread of the disease to other regions of the country.
Importantly, Germany is not the only one to fall prey to swine flu. Several countries in West and East Europe have suffered the so-called “hog cholera”. Interestingly, Belgium has recorded a few outbreaks among wild animals since 2018. For your reference, African swine fever is not dangerous to humans.
This year, Germany is braced for the most severe downturn since World War II. PMIs for all economic sectors will hardly recover to the pre-crisis levels until the end of the next year. The European Commission projects Germany’s economy to contract 6.3% in 2020. However, Europe’s most powerful economy will prove its resilience with a 5.3% expansion in 2021. Germany’s national economic output slumped 10.1% in Q2 2020 sequentially.
