The largest Baltic manufacturer of alcoholic beverages and one of the largest exporters JSC Latvijas Balzams (LB) opened the upgraded Riga Black Balsam (RBB) production line today, in which 440 thousand Euro have been invested.

This big investment will enable company to increase its production and export volumes as well as improve its efficiency by saving approx. 20,000 Euro per annum. To satisfy the current domestic and export market demands, LB produces approximately 1.4 million litres of the Riga Black Balsam line beverages per year which are exported to more than 25 countries.

When opening the upgraded production line, the Minister of Economics Vjačeslavs Dombrovskis noted that „Products with high added value as Riga Black Balsam is one of the prides of Latvia, one of its symbols, and it brings utter satisfaction that the company has found possibilities to invest in an even more successful production and export of this globally popular beverage.

The Company Board Chairman Guntis Āboltiņš-Āboliņš noted that this was a highly significant step in the growth anticipated by the company on the export markets and a tax contribution to the Latvian economics.  Riga Black Balsam and its product line are the backbone of the company's exports. They represent a total of 30% of the direct exports volume of Latvijas Balzams (except Baltic States). The data pooled by the company show that a total of 36 million Euro has been invested in the development of the JSC Latvijas Balzams and the improvement of its product portfolio since year 2000.

G. Āboltiņš-Āboliņš also mentioned that the plans for this year included more active exports of the balsam to several markets, including the USA, China and the United Kingdom, as well as increase of the sales volumes in Russia and the Latvian tax free zone. The highest achievements in several significant international competitions this and last year will certainly help LB acquire new markets and market segments.

The total growth of the Riga Black Balsam product sales volumes on the domestic and export markets last year was 13% or 879 thousand Euro (compared to year 2012) and reached 7.4 million Euro. The growth achieved on the domestic market is 13%, whereas the increase of the export sales against year 2012 is even 14%. The sales volume (in manufacturer prices) of the balsam line beverages on the direct export markets exceeded 2.3 million Euro last year.

Additional information:

Dana Hasana

JSC “Latvijas balzams” Communications Manager

Phone: +371 67011711

Mob. phone:+371 26355895

E-mail: dana.hasana@lb.lv

www.lb.lv