Achema, the largest Baltic fertilizer producer, was forced to halt manufacturing operations after a five to seven minute power outage on Aug. 4. A spokeswoman said no power was supplied by external grids and the Jonava-based plant had to be shut down. Residents in the area recalled the heavy smell of ammonia about a half hour after the incident. The company said costs of one day of downtime can amount to 2 million litas (580,000 euros).
The Paldiski timber complex has continued working under the Baltic Lumber and Moulding label belonging to the bankrupt TKE group. A sign with the TKE Group name remained on the roof and the e-mail maintained it as well, though the BLM firm was running the plant. The two companies are reportedly connected by shareholder Nadir Khafiz, who currently resides in the United States. Sergei Miller, a BLM board member, admitted that the company was in a complicated financial and legal situation but voiced hope that the bankruptcy proceedings would soon finish. He said demand in the United States for the firm's output was high, but the company has had difficulties procuring good raw material from Russia.
The U.S-based Jeld-Wen, which produces doors and windows in Aizkraukle, announced it planned to launch construction of a 40 million euro wood treatment facility in Latvia in mid-August. The Latvian Investment and Development Agency reported that the new facility, also to be located in Aizkraukle, would be built as part of the company's expanding operations.
The Cilija chain of pizza parlors reported sales of 32.7 million litas (9.5 million euros) in Lithuania and Latvia in the first half of 2004, a rise of 47 percent year-on-year. Sales in Lithuania surged by 45 percent to 27.9 million litas, and those in Latvia by 58 percent to 4.8 million litas.
