Donald Trump has been pipped to the post in his ambitions to ‘build a wall’ as Denmark has announced plans to build a 70km fence on its Border with Germany, in response to the increasing number of cases of African Swine Fever (ASF) in Eastern Europe.

Although there are currently no reported cases in Denmark, the fence would help keep wild boar – the animals that can spread the disease – out of the country. This is because ASF has the potential to shut down the entire pig industry in Denmark where exports currently account for £3.85bn per year.

The spread of the disease in eastern Europe is causing significant problems as there is currently no vaccine against it and the European Commission's latest update through its animal diseases notification system (ADNS) shows there were 2259 cases of ASF recorded in wild boar between January 1 and April 15. This is more than half of the total cases notified in all of 2017, according to the Pig Progress website.

Lithuania and Poland were highlighted as particular concerns, with 728 and 1020 cases recorded respectively in April alone. The disease also exists in the Czech Republic, Romania, Estonia and Latvia, and has recently moved closer to Denmark, according to the government.

Denmark's Minister for Food and the Environment, Esben Lunde Larsen, explained why taking such preventatives measures were necessary to Denmark’s pig industry.

“If African Swine Fever virus broke out in Denmark, all exports to third countries would immediately stop,” Mr Larsen said, according to sources there.

The threat of ASF impacting on UK shores is still stated as low, however, with recent discoveries of cases this week in Hungary, Andy McGowan, chief executive, Scottish Pig Producers, voiced his concerns over the indirect impact the disease could have on the Scottish pig industry.

“African Swine Fever this week jumped to Hungary for the first time and the working suspicion from the vet there, is that the disease has been spread by Ukrainian workers not wild boar. We have a huge number of Eastern Europeans working in our rural sector and many come from Poland and Lithuania, where currently ASF is at its most rife. The disease can spread through cured meats, and employers of Eastern European staff have been warned to prohibit staff from bringing over cured meats, which is a common tradition.

“The implication of somewhere like Germany or Denmark contracting the disease would have a catastrophic indirect impact on the UK. If the disease took hold there, then they wouldn’t be able to export to places like China, which would leave a huge amount of European meat looking for a home, likely finding itself on our shelves, putting pressure on producers here and lowering prices.

“Denmark recognise they need to build this fence to place a barrier between themselves and Germany in case the latter were to contract ASF. Denmark and Germany have achieved global significance with their pork, way beyond the EU, so anything which impacts two of the biggest pork producers will have a huge impact on our own industry,” added Mr McGowan.