African swine fever (ASF) has been detected at the pig farm of Baltic Pork Ltd. in Laubere Parish, Ogre Municipality, where 20,000 pigs are kept, the Food and Veterinary Service (FVS) reports.
To eliminate the outbreak and prevent further spread of the disease, all pigs at the facility will be culled.
The FVS is carrying out disease control and containment measures at the affected site, as well as an epidemiological investigation. A quarantine zone has been established around the infected farm. Within this area, the FVS will step up inspections of pig health and compliance with biosecurity requirements. Restrictions on the movement of pigs and pig products have also been imposed in the quarantine zone.
The FVS stresses that the risk of ASF introduction into farms is currently particularly high – the virus is present in the environment and can easily be brought into facilities via footwear, clothing, equipment, or transport. Pig keepers are reminded that regardless of the size of the holding, the only way to protect pigs from infection is strict compliance with biosecurity rules.
Baltic Pork board member Daiga Ļubka told LETA news agency that
the situation is serious, but t
he overall impact on the company’s operations and the scale of losses cannot yet be estimated.
“We cannot make forecasts immediately. We ourselves need to understand and go through all the procedures and processes in order to know the figures and see what it looks like in practice,” Ļubka said.
This brings the total number of ASF outbreaks in domestic pig farms in Latvia this year to eight.
The virus was first detected in May 2025 at a backyard farm with 36 pigs in Džūkste Parish, Tukums Municipality. In early July, it was found in a smallholding with six pigs in Glūda Parish, Jelgava Municipality. At the end of July, an outbreak was confirmed at a farm with 55 pigs in Rosme, Iecava Parish, Bauska Municipality, and in mid-August at Nygaard International Ltd., which keeps 4,900 pigs in Ģibuļi Parish, Talsi Municipality.
Later in August, ASF was confirmed in a household farm with 65 pigs in Babīte Parish, Mārupe Municipality; another with three pigs in Dāviņi Parish, Bauska Municipality; and in yet another smallholding with three pigs in Babīte Parish, Mārupe Municipality.
Last year, the disease was found in seven farms across Latvia, affecting a total of 595 domestic pigs.
ASF was first registered in Latvia in June 2014, when three wild boars tested positive just a few meters from the Belarusian border. ASF is a highly dangerous disease, and whenever it is detected in a domestic pig holding, the entire herd must be culled.
As previously reported by LETA, Baltic Pork had a turnover of €13.585 million last year, down 4.7% from the previous year. Its profit fell by 14.4% to €2.896 million.
According to the company’s website, Baltic Pork began operations in the pig farming sector in 2001 at the former Soviet-era pig farm Krastmalas in Allaži Parish, Sigulda Municipality. In 2012, the company launched operations at its newly built pig breeding complex Rukši in Laubere Parish, Ogre Municipality.
Baltic Pork breeds crossbred pigs from Landrace, Yorkshire, and Duroc lines, which are mainly sold on the Latvian market. The piglets raised by the company are also purchased for fattening by other pig-farming businesses. Some of the company’s piglets and pigs are exported.
Baltic Pork was registered in 2000, with a share capital of €2.505 million. Its owners are Norway’s Mork Engebretsen Invest (71.57%) and SE Agro Holding (28.43%). The company’s ultimate beneficial owners are two Norwegian citizens – Uwe Henriks Merk Eks and Svein Engebretsen.
The FVS is a state authority under the Ministry of Agriculture, responsible for national supervision and control of the food chain and the veterinary sector.
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