TALLINN-VILNIUS - Two European manufacturers last week announced their intentions to set up plants in the Baltics, strengthening the trend of western capital migrating east in search of savings and proximity to eastern markets.
Pharmadule Emtunga, a British-Swedish manufacturer of pharmaceutical production facilities and modular living units, said it was setting up a plant for the assembly of high-tech construction modules in the Juri industrial park south of Tallinn.
Investment will reach some 50 million kroons (3.2 million euros), company Vice President Andreas Palmlund said May 26.
The plant at Juri, which should be ready in mid-October, will be more state-of-the-art and high-tech than the company's plants in Sweden, he emphasized.
The plant will employ about 70 workers in the first year, while that number is expected to grow to 200 when output reaches full capacity, Palmlund said.
Pharmadule Emtunga had weighed China and Poland as alternative locations, but the final decision in favor of Estonia was made on the basis of logistical considerations and thanks to the company's positive experience with the Flexenclosure plant at Someru, near the eastern town of Rakvere, that opened in the winter.
Meanwhile, Christie Tyler, one of the U.K.'s largest furniture manufacturers, began building a new plant in Alytus last week. The first assembly unit of the plant will be launched in mid-August, and by the end of 2005 the company will employ a workforce of 300, though it will hire additional 300-600 workers in 2006.
Christie Tyler controls 13 companies, including 10 in the U.K., as well as companies in Thailand, Argentina and Lithuania.
In Alytus, the company has rented premises controlled by Svenheim company for a 10-year period. Investments into manufacturing and other arrangements made up 16 million litas (4.5 million euros).
Christie Tyler's products from the Alytus plant will be designated for mid-level to luxury buyers. All output from the new plant will be marketed via Christie Tyler's U.K. network.
