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The program was discontinued because owing to European Commission decisions the zonal restrictions set to prevent the spread of African swine fever (ASF) have become more flexible, Minister of Rural Affairs Urmas Kruuse said in a press release. The minister had earlier sharply criticized the participation in and victories of pig meat procurement tenders by the large producers HKScan and Atria.

Kruuse told BNS on Monday that the reason for discontinuing the program was that it already had had a stabilizing effect on pork prices and the fact that the reserves acquired for national stockpiles have to be realized in proper time. "Had [the participation of big groups] been the main issue, we would have ended the program a long time ago. Nonetheless, my position is that the sector could have done more cooperation, but at the same time HKScan for instance took on board also smaller pig growers in the tenders," he said.

Around 800,000 euros of the sum originally set apart for the program by the government will now remain unused. The money will revert to the reserve fund and cannot be used again without a new decision by the government, the minister said.

He also said he has heard whispers that a number of small pig growers plan to join forces and establish a meat processing plant which he regards as a positive development. Asked whether the state could support such a project, Kruuse said it depends on the situation. "The state can support various programs through different measures, but everything depends on the form they take," he explained.

The production of the last batch of canned pork is still in progress, but according to a preliminary estimate approximately one million euros was spent on the support measure. All told around 950,000 preserves will be made for which 249 tons of pig meat was purchased from the ASF protection zone.

The government decided on Oct. 29 to allocate 1.78 million euros to the state operation stockpile for the purchase of canned pork. Plans are for the preserves to be kept as part of the stockpile until the end of 2016, after which they can be sold, handed over to the defense forces or distributed to disadvantaged categories of residents via the social welfare system.

The meat for making the preserves came from healthy pigs in the third or protection zone for African swine fever subjected to veterinary checks prior to slaughter to rule out the presence of ASF.