Latvia exports success

Ojārs Kalniņš | 

Latvian Export and Innovation Award

Winners of the Latvian Export and Innovation Award receive trophies noting their achievements. (Photo courtesy of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia)

During Latvia’s boom years, our exports never exceeded imports. Last year, during the peak of the economic crisis, they did. What gives? A look at some of our top exporting companies offers some surprising clues.

At the end of 2009, 29 highly successful and respected Latvian companies competed for top prizes in the annual Latvian Export and Innovation Award competition (Eksporta un inovācijas balva 2009). Somehow the words “highly successful” and “economic crisis” do not seem to belong in the same year, no less the same country, but in 2009 Latvia experienced both.

Thanks to the Ministry of Economics and the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, I participated in the jury that had the rare privilege of seeing firsthand how some of Latvia’s most innovative exporters are defying expectations on a routine basis.

Some may rely on numbers and macroeconomic factors to explain success, but when you visit a company like Dores fabrika Ltd. near Cēsis you realize that tradition, innovation and integrity remain an unbeatable formula. Dores fabrika applies ingenious new technologies to the beloved tradition of log houses to produce stunning, eco-friendly, energy-efficient homes that dazzle the eye and warm the cockles of any heart. Even the Norwegians, global leaders in log house construction, have been impressed.

Norwegians, Swedes and Danes are also impressed by the books that are being produced by Livonia Print Ltd. So much so, that almost 90 percent of what this state-of-art printing plant and bindery produces in Rīga ends up on Scandinavian shelves. It would be undiplomatic to mention which royal families regularly turn to Livonia Print to print their life stories, but clearly the price and quality are up to regal standards.

When the Scandinavian kings and queens visit some of their leading manufacturers, chances are that the red carpet was laid down over Prime Composite concrete floors produced by Primekss Ltd.  Primekss has literally re-invented the concrete floor, making it thinner, tougher, more durable and totally seamless. The fact that producing Primekss concrete floors generates 30-50 percent less CO2 emissions makes them even more popular in the eco-conscious Baltic Sea region. Latvians, Estonians and Poles are the first continental Europeans to start building with Primekss concrete, but sooner or later, the rest of “Old Europe” should get the hint.

However, it’s not only Scandinavians who are upping the numbers of Latvian exports. It appears that the Italians are the prime consumers of Monterigo cheese, produced by Limbažu piens Ltd. This hard cheese is aged for 18 months and is remarkably similar to something that looks, smells and tastes like—but can’t be called—Parmesan cheese. So much so, that the Italians are re-packaging it and exporting it to the United Kingdom (don’t tell the Brits).

While most of Latvia’s exporters are doing well in the European Union and many continue to expand their traditional markets in Russia and other parts of the former USSR, one Latvian company is beginning to clean up, so to speak, in China. Stenders Ltd. has 190 franchise stores around the world selling its distinctive soaps, bath balls and body cosmetics, and 20 of them are in China. Not only is the market huge, the Chinese prefer to purchase their bars of Stenders’ soap in “Great Wall’’ sizes.

Notwithstanding the global success of many Latvian exporters, one Rīga-based company is generating out-of-this-world sales results. Literally. Bruker Baltic Ltd. specializes in the development of (get ready) “high-pure germanium and cadmium-zinc-tellurium detectors.” Don’t know what that means? I don’t either, but Bruker has designed its devices for NASA and the European Space Agency, and is now working on a technical innovation for the next probe to the planet Mercury.

Speaking of long distances, when the film hero E.T. had to “phone home” he had problems making connections. While the Latvian makers of B-Phone may not be able to keep you in touch with other planets, they can help you listen in on your baby from anywhere your mobile phone service can reach. Their innovative baby monitoring device calls your mobile phone any time your child moves or makes a sound. You can talk to the toddler as well. The wives and husbands in our jury immediately thought of some other applications for this mobile monitoring device, but I’ll leave that to your imagination.

Of course, there are many other enterprising Latvian exporters with fascinating success stories. For a list of the top prize winners you can check Latvian Export and Innovation Award 2009. Or contact the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia. Since success breeds success, I feel confident that Latvia will be exporting even more good products and good news in 2010.

For further information on these companies, visit their Web sites:

Maskačkas spēlmaņi releases double album of dance tunes

Andris Straumanis | 

The Rīga folk ensemble Maskačkas spēlmaņi in December released a new album consisting of two compact discs and a detailed, illustrated booklet of folk dances from around Latvia.

Ļipa kust includes 33 tracks, some with vocals, some without. The album is the ensemble’s fourth. The band’s previous album, Pāri jumtam, was released in 2003.

In addition to good explanations of how to perform the various dances represented on the discs, the album is remarkable for its translation. Rather than offering English or Russian as the alternative to Latvian, Ļipa kust provides an Esperanto version.

The dance notations are by Sniedze Grīnberga and the illustrations by Marita Grase.

Maskačkas spēlmaņi has been around since 1995. Members include leader Ansis Ataols Bērziņš, Jānis Barons, Ieva Bērziņa, Zane Kriumane, Oskars Patjanko, Paulis Paulins and Jurģis Ukrins. The band’s focus is lively Latvian country dance music from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The ensemble takes its name from the Maskavas forštate district of Rīga, an area east of the Central Market along the Daugava River.

For more on the ensemble, visit maskacka.folklora.lv.

Ļipa kust

The album Ļipa kust is the fourth by folk ensemble Maskačkas spēlmaņi.

Andris Straumanis is a special correspondent for and a co-founder of Latvians Online. From 2000–2012 he was editor of the website.

Latvia sells old embassy in Washington

Andris Straumanis | 

Four years after opening its new embassy in Washington, D.C., Latvia has sold the old building that had served as the government-in-exile’s legation since the 1950s.

The residential property in the city’s Crestwood neighborhood sold in a Jan. 7 auction to the sole bidder for USD 460,250, according to a press release from the government-owned State Real Estate (Valsts nekustamie īpašumi). The buyers, according to the Latvian Embassy, are Jean Kornfeld and Miljodrag Miljanic.

The Latvian Legation acquired the property at 4325 17th Street N.W. in 1953.

The property had a 2009 assessed value of USD 778,010, which was projected to drop to USD 669,360 this year, according to District of Columbia property records. The assessed value is the one used to figure property tax. The actual market value typically is greater than the assessed value.

However, State Real Estate noted in its press release, given the economic situation in the United States, differences in the legal systems between the U.S. and Latvia, and the fact that the building has stood vacant for several years while its condition has deteriorated, the auction can be viewed as successful. The value of the property set by the real estate service was USD 460,000.

To save on the expense of sending representatives to the United States, according to the government real estate service, the auction took place via videoconference between Rīga and Washington.

The buyers have three weeks to complete the sale.

Kornfeld and Miljanic, according to the Latvian Embassy, plan to remodel the building but respect its historical significance.

Latvia in 2001 bought the new embassy building at 2306 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. for $2.5 million, according to District of Columbia property records. Known as the Barney Studio House, the building on Embassy Row was remodeled and opened in December 2005.

Latvian Legation

Latvia’s old embassy building in Washington, D.C., has been sold at auction. (Photo by District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue)

Andris Straumanis is a special correspondent for and a co-founder of Latvians Online. From 2000–2012 he was editor of the website.