Danish pig farmers and pork producers fear another economic downturn as free trade negotiations between the EU and Japan proceed at a snail’s pace.

Two years ago, when Russia enforced a ban on European food imports, Danish pig farming industry suffered large financial losses.

Now, the agriculture sector is worried about losing access to the Japanese market, which is even more profitable, reports Finans.

Hurry up, EU!
In 2015, Japan signed a free trade agreement with the United States, while similar negotiations between the Asian country and the EU have been slow and are not yet finalised. And the Danes fear the Americans will swamp the Japanese market with their products in the meantime.

“If the EU does not hurry up and negotiate a deal similar to the US, we can simply say good-bye to Japan,” Jais Valeur, the executive director of the slaughterhouse giant Danish Crown, told Finans.

“It is very serious because Japan is one of our largest and most profitable markets.”

Knud Buhl, the head of the Danish Bacon and Meat Council’s office in Brussels, agrees that “if negotiations between the EU and Japan are delayed, there is a very real risk that Denmark loses its billion pork exports to Japan.”