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Serious outbreaks may disrupt and reduce the local production
of animal products to the extent that a country needs to import heavily
to meet local needs.
The market prices of animals and animal products may rise or fall dramatically
following an outbreak, an example being that of the Philippines in 1995 where pork
prices halved because of an erroneous rumour that FMD-contaminated meat was able to
infect man.
Loss of export markets, particularly prime export markets, may have very serious
financial implications. As an example, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay
exported 500,000 tonnes of chilled and frozen deboned beef in 1989 against receipts of
US $1.3 billion. Had this beef been exported with bones to the prime markets (USA and
Japan) on the basis of the acknowledged FMD-free status of the region, it is estimated
that an additional US $ 1.5 billion would have been received.
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