Saerimner set to expand in Russia as it cannot build new pig farms in Lithuania

Stringent requirements for the construction of pig farms impeded the expansion of pig breeding in Lithuania, Saerimner CEO Saulius Leonavičius said.

“We could not get any permits required for pig breeding at new farms during the last six years. We can only move forward by buying old abandoned Soviet-time farms..., therefore the shareholders have decided that the entire amount earned by our company and the funds obtained from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) will be earmarked for investments in Russia,” he said.

No new pig farms have been built in Lithuania for the past 19 years, Leonavičius points out.

He believes that there is room to develop pig breeding in Lithuania and to grow up to 3 million pigs reaching the breeding level last seen in 1991.

Some 14,780 tons of pork were imported to Lithuania, mostly from Poland, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, in the first quarter of 2012, up from 14,680 tons in the same period last year.

The country’s pork exports almost doubled in the same period, to 2,000 tons.