Since the current ASF epidemic started in June, 55,000 pigs have been designated for slaughter, around 20 percent of the entire domestic herd.
Prime Minister Kristen Michal (Reform) said the state is working on the matter, to improve conditions for the meat processing industry.

"It is also possible to take steps for industries. No one is saying that this money will just appear or that we have struck oil – that will not happen. If the industry is in crisis and the sector is in crisis, then solutions need to be sought," Michal told "Aktuaalne kaamera."

Michal's partymate, Finance Minister Jürgen Ligi, however, rejected that idea, citing insufficient funds in the state budget.

"This measure can only come at someone's expense, so then it must be assessed how much of it is a business risk, and how much of a business risk we generally mitigate. We do not now have the funds coming into the budget to cover all business risks, and in fact there is also no plan for how this could be done," Ligi stated.

One producer, Matsimoka, sources its pork from three Estonian farms which have not yet had ASF detected at their facilities.

Matsimoka representative Sten Inno said no support measures have been created for the industry, even as meat and its by-products suspected of being infected must be destroyed by the producer at its own expense.

"If a pig carcass comes in from a farm and later it turns out to be ASF positive, then we must destroy all the production we have in process," Inno said.

Support measures have been put in place for pig farms affected by ASF since the first cases of the current epidemic were detected in June.

Additionally, month-long entry bans have been placed on close to 30 farms, mostly the largest pig farms in the country, in an effort to curb the spread of ASF.

A wild boar cull of 18,000 animals is ongoing, as these can be a vector for ASF too.

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