Financial Impact of Foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks on pig farms in the Republic of Korea, 2014/2015

•The total financial loss per FMD outbreak farm represented 49.4% of the annual net gain of pig farms in Korea.•Total financial losses for 180 FMD outbreak pig farms were 43.2% of the total control cost spent by the Korean government on this epidemic.•The median financial loss per animal was US$ 129.1 and the median total loss per farm was US$ 43,822. The financial impact of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) that occurred in 180 piggeries (100 farrow-to-finish and 80 fattening farms) confirmed infected during the 2014/2015 epidemic in the Republic of Korea was estimated at the farm level. The median loss due to slaughtering of pigs prior to their expected market weights was US$ 71.8 (uncovered compensation–compensation loss) plus US$ 57.3 (foregone net gain) per pig. Median loss per farm was US$ 27,487 (55.6% of total loss) for compensation and US$ 15,925 (44.4%) for foregone net gain. The total loss per farm (median, 25th–75th percentile) was US$ 43,822 (9,767–115,893), which represented 49.4% (11.5–112.8) of the annual net gain of pig farms. The total financial loss in 180 FMD outbreak pig farms was US$ 25.2 million, which was nearly one-half of the control cost (US$ 58.3 million) spent by the Korean government on this epidemic. The findings in this study should help planning to help reduce the impact at the farm level in the Republic of Korea in the future.