Spain scrambles to limit damage from African swine fever

Spain was scrambling on Saturday to limit the economic impact from an outbreak of African swine fever, a day after announcing its first cases in three decades in the Catalonia region. Agriculture Minister said on Saturday the government wanted to limit the economic impact on the agricultural sector "as much as possible".

Spain, the world's third largest producer of pork and pork derivatives, exports almost three million tonnes each year to more than 100 countries, the minister told a press conference. But he said a third of those countries had halted imports from Spain -- an automatic safety measure when African swine flu is detected.