DESPITE strong and growing demand for pig meat in China, UK producers could face delays resuming exports unless the government moves quickly to agree the conditions of post-Brexit export health certificates.

According to Mick Sloyan, AHDB strategy director, the export health certificate to China actually complies with all the health and welfare regulation under the EU and in order to export agricultural foods from the UK, an export health certificate is usually required.

These are frequently issued on the basis that EU sanitary, phytosanitary and veterinary standards are equivalent to UK standards.

The government has confirmed that on the day the UK leaves the EU, it will trigger the Great Repeal Bill, which will copy all existing EU legislation into domestic UK law – including the export health certificate system.

“It sounds simple with the Great Repeal Bill – we say we adhere to the same standards and it will just say UK instead. But it isn’t," Mr Sloyan told farmers attending a National Pig Association meeting.

“That conversation will take years. It took us from 2004 to 2011 to get pork exports into China. It was a very tortuous process, so we need to start the conversation now about how we maintain that trade with China that is so important to our industry.”

Mr Sloyan added that Chinese exports have been one of the biggest drivers behind the UK pig price increase over the past 12 months.

Last year, pigmeat exports hit a 17-year high with China the biggest destination, with the market worth an estimated £30 per pig.

“What is really encouraging is that we are starting to see, not only volume growth but value growth as well. China was generally for parts of the pig we didn’t want to eat – relatively low value but high value added for us," he said.

“That is still the bulk of the market going there but we are increasingly now seeing other products – what you might call prime meat – finding its way into those markets, adding more value for the UK pig sector.”