China freezes pork talks, but Finnish Christmas ham will not get cheaper
Thursday 29th October 2026 on 18:30 in
Finland
China has suspended talks on importing Finnish pork for the duration of an African swine fever outbreak, while negotiations on bird flu continue, Yle reported.
Officials from Finland’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry met experts from China’s diplomatic mission in Finland in Helsinki on Tuesday to discuss whether pork from outside the affected area could be exported to China. China’s representatives said the talks would remain on hold throughout the outbreak.
“Get the disease under control, and we can continue the negotiations,” the Chinese representatives told the meeting, according to Pekka Pesonen, the ministry’s permanent secretary.
China also said it wanted to continue food trade with Finland and praised the quality and safety of Finnish products. Negotiations on allowing exports from areas unaffected by bird flu will continue, Pesonen said.
Finland’s annual pork exports are worth more than 70 million euros. China and Japan have together accounted for about a third of that value, but both have kept their markets closed because they do not accept regionalised export rules. South Korea and New Zealand have accepted the model and reopened their markets to Finnish meat from outside the affected area.
Replacing the lost sales is difficult. China bought parts of the pig that are not generally eaten in Finland, including ears, trotters and tails. Without buyers, these products may have to be sold cheaply or used as animal feed. Opening new export markets for meat can also take time because it involves extensive approval procedures and often audits of production facilities by the destination country’s authorities.
The export difficulties are not expected to lower the price of Christmas ham. “There will be no cheap Christmas hams, because hardly any ham was exported to China,” Pesonen said.
Finland and China had already discussed regionalised exports before African swine fever was detected in Finland at the end of July. During Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s visit to China in January 2026, the two sides signed a document agreeing to continue negotiations.