Business briefs

  • 2014-10-01

The record-breaking Post-Panamax category container ship Piera left Klaipeda Seaport on Sept. 17 and is heading to Iran, reports ELTA. It was loaded with a record amount of grain - the biggest in the history of Klaipeda Seaport. The ship’s length is 229.5 meters, its beam measures 38 meters and was loaded up to a 13 meter draft by Bega stevedoring company. The vessel was loaded in four days. As planned, the ship is transporting 74,000 tons of wheat. Measured in train cargo, the load would constitute 1,100 bulk grain cars.

On Sept. 25 Latvia’s Saeima approved amendments to the Insolvency Law, according to which bank mortgages issued to borrowers who buy a home or apartment, and have no other domicile, will be considered non-recourse loans, reports LETA. Saeima’s Economic, Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Policy Committee previously agreed not to support the proposal. Nevertheless, Saeima decided otherwise and supported the proposal, stipulating that it will apply only in those cases where the debtor’s home/apartment is sold due to the individual’s personal bankruptcy. This means that after selling a property which served as security for taking out a mortgage, the remaining debtor’s obligations will be nullified.

During the first seven months of 2014, Latvian forest industry exports increased by 12.6 percent, reaching 1.18 billion euros, compared to 1.0 billion euros in the same period in 2013, according to data provided by the Forest Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, reports Nozare.lv. The value of wood and wood products exported in the first seven months this year was 129.5 million euros, which is 10.9 percent more than in 2013. The largest export markets were Great Britain, Sweden and Germany. A total of 11.2 percent of forest industry exports went to Great Britain, 15.2 percent to Sweden and 10.9 percent to Germany. Meanwhile, forest industry imports in the first seven months of 2014 reached 391.9 million euros, which is 16.8 percent more than in the respective period of 2013. The largest portion of imports came from Lithuania - 20.3 percent; Estonia - 12 percent, and Poland - 11.1 percent.