TALLINN - The launching of a new animal-waste processing plant in accordance with EU standards will triple meatpackers' waste handling expenses and likely force them to raise prices of meat products, industry sources said this week.
Currently the only animal-waste handling facility that meets EU requirements is in the northeastern town of Vaike-Maarja and will start a trial run this month.
The handling of one ton of waste at the modern facility will cost meatpackers 1,930 kroons (123 euros).
"The price includes transport, regardless of whether the meatpacker is located near Vaike-Maarja, in the Vorumaa region or the island of Saaremaa [off Estonia's western coast]," Ivo Vaar, a board member of the company that operates the Vaike-Maarja facility, was quoted as saying.
Although the plant is largely built on EU funds, it must be self-sustaining financially.
"According to the business plan, the price of one ton must cover the cost of processing," Vaar said.
But meatpackers are crying foul.
Olle Horm, CEO of Rakvere Lihakombinaat, called the waste handling facility's planned price level a "catastrophe," saying Rakvere's waste handling expenses would triple because of it.
"That's the level of Finland or other expensive countries. With such a price level we're going to lose millions a year," he said. "Competition puts the price of products in place, but we're tempted to raise prices."
The Rakvere meatpacker generates about 1,000 tons of high-risk animal waste annually, all of which will have to be processed at Vaike-Maarja.
Unlike meat processing companies, stock farmers pay nothing for waste handling.
Vaar said dead animals would be removed for free from both small farms and animal factories. And in order to collect dead animals within 24 hours from the islands, the waste handling plant said it intended to establish collection points in both Saaremaa and Hiiumaa.
