Company briefs - 2004-08-19

  • 2004-08-19
Crude flows via the Butinge terminal, which is controlled by the oil complex Mazeikiu Nafta, declined by 17 percent in the January-to-July period year-on-year to 5.3 million tons. In July alone, exports of crude via Butinge slipped by 11 percent year-on-year. Crude from Yukos, Russia's besieged oil major, comprises the bulk of throughput at Butinge.

The Laima and Staburadze confectionaries expressed dismay that they would receive only 14 percent the expected 200,800 euros in export compensation, which they claim will threaten their competitiveness outside the EU market and this year's earnings. A government trade official, however, said he was equally dismayed at the company's calculations and at the fact that they only submitted one export declaration in the past four months. "Until now the EU has paid no export subsidies to Latvian companies, and they still posted a profit," said the official, adding that the confectionaries have imported large amounts of cheap sugar from non-EU countries.

AirBaltic opened new routes from Vilnius to Helsinki, Oslo and Warsaw beginning Aug. 15 and another to Vienna on Aug. 17. Furthermore, the carrier will open a route from Vilnius to Tallinn beginning in September. "We are deeply satisfied that our operations in Vilnius have meet our expectations," said Bertold Flick, airBaltic president, adding that the company would expand its plane fleet in Vilnius by two Fokker 50 planes and two Boeing 737s. The company launched direct flights from the Lithuanian capital to Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne and Dublin in June.

Estonia's competition board has begun investigating a complaint by the fuel companies' union against Neste, whose pricing policy has raised suspicion among retailers. The union specifically asked the competition watchdog to establish whether Neste's activities were lawful if the wholesale price of fuel it sells is higher than the retail price at its filling stations. Neste lowered the price of 95 Euro gas for the Aug. 14 - 15 weekend to 10.5 kroons (0.679 euro) per liter, while the wholesale price quoted on the firm's Web page was 10.6 kroons.