TALLINN - Hog breeders in the county of Laane-Viru are set to renew the export of live pigs to Russia in a bid to increase revenues and win back lost market share, the daily Postimees reported.
Ulo Niisuke, chairman of the Rakvere Rural People's Associ-ation, said Russia was extremely interested in importing live pigs since there is a shortage of pork in the country.
Laane-Viru hog breeders have chosen a meat processing company in Kingisepp, not far from the border with Estonia, as their main partner. The meatpacker is expecting a truckload of 100 pigs from Estonia every other day in 2005, or 18,000 pigs annually, marking an increase of approximately 125 times over the first nine months of this year.
The manager of AS Vinimex, the largest hog-breeding company in the northeastern county, said the price paid for pork in Russia was significantly higher than in Estonia. Even after transportation costs, pig sales to Russia will still be profitable, Ants Ossip said.
Olle Horm, manager of Rakvere Lihakombinaat, said the step by Laane-Viru's hog growers would have an impact on the entire Estonian meat market. "Three hundred thousand pigs are slaughtered in Estonia annually, and 18,000 animals make up a sizeable portion of that figure," he said.
Exports of pigs to Russia slowed down to a trickle during the last decade. If in 1989 Estonia exported some 560,000 pigs to Russia, now the figure is a fraction of that.
