Fourteen of the 30 countries and areas that had restricted the export of Belgian pork following the discovery of the African swine fever virus in wild boars in Belgium in September 2018, have lifted the embargo. The embargo has been lifted by South Korea, South Africa, Singapore, Belarus, Mexico, Uruguay, Ukraine, Russia, the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Thailand and Nicaragua, following Belgium's official declaration of disease-free status by the World Organization for Animal Health OIE on December 21, 2020. Japan became the fourteenth country to lift the ban on August 30. Before the country was confronted with African Swine Fever, Belgium exported 100,000 tons of pork annually to third countries.