Baltic Export, Good for Business, Latvia, Markets and Companies, Woodwork

“The overall trend is for the association’s companies to raise their turnover. Some have been doing better, some worse, but the average turnover growth has been 7-8%. The steepest turnover growth has been achieved by companies that have diversified their markets and are doing business on the Russian market, as well as Scandinavia and EU member states,” said Bukonts.

In his words, the turnover of those companies that had focused their operations on the UK market dropped by about 5% year-on-year. The association’s representative, however, could not tell whether this reduction was due to the uncertainty caused by the UK’s decision to leave the EU or other factors.

The association’s members continued to invest in research and development, Bukonts said, adding that the largest investments were made by companies operating also in foreign markets, such as Latvijas Finieris veneer company, which has been investing in its plant in Estonia.

The association’s executive director projected that in 2017 Latvijas Koks companies might raise their aggregate turnover by up to 10% from 2016. “I was more cautious with my forecasts at the beginning of the year, but some companies have increased their turnover even by 12% in the first half of the year,” Bukonts said, adding that this is an indication that the association’s members might show stronger results than planned this year.

As reported, Latvijas Koks members turned over EUR 249.8 million in the first six months of the year, which is 15.7% more than in the same period of 2015, while association members' exports increased 18.6% to EUR 193.6 million,

Latvijas Koks has 27 members, including 22 wood-processing companies and furniture producers, and the largest among them are Latvijas Finieris plywood producer, its subsidiary Verems, and Kronospan Riga chipboard producer.