ASF Russia: Coral fully recovered from massive outbreak

Shortly following the outbreak, Coral management developed a recovery strategy, under which they planned to gradually put production capacities back into operation between 2021 and 2023. The company also continued building feed production capacities that were under construction at the time of the outbreak.

Regaining trust

A crucial task was to return the fourth compartment level to the meat-processing plant also affected by the outbreak, Simonenko said. In the Russian veterinary system, the fourth compartment means the facility has the highest protection against veterinary diseases and is allowed to continue business as usual even when veterinary outbreaks happen in close vicinity.

The authorities seemed to be reluctant to return the fourth compartment to the facilities already hit by an outbreak. Simonenko said that the veterinary officials subjected the operations to inspections more scrupulous than usual.

A new start

Simonenko said that the company took some steps to prevent a new ASF outbreak at the facility from happening, but did not unveil any additional details. All equipment and porous building materials, which could not be properly treated, were completely replaced at the affected capacities. All production sites were cleaned, disinfected and aerated. Thanks to launching these capacities this year, the company expects its production to grow by roughly 75,000 tonnes compared with the previous year.

In addition, Coral has built a genetic centre for 2,500 sows. Last year, it obtained the status of breeding farm for the Yorkshire and Landrace breeds. In 2023, it plans to receive this status for the Duroc breed.

ASF under control

Since the beginning of 2023, the Russian veterinary service Rosselhoznadzor has registered 27 ASF outbreaks in Russia, of which 15 were among farmed pigs. The highest number of outbreaks this year was reported in the Krasnoyarsk krai in Siberia, though in general, Russian veterinary officials claimed that the disease remains under control, and moreover, the veterinary situation in the country has noticeably improved compared with the previous years.