Company briefs - 2003-10-30

Agu Laanemets, CEO of the Viru Kalatoostus fish cannery, said that it was wishful thinking to expect that Russia would abolish its trade barriers with Estonia. Laanemets, whose company exports 30 percent of its canned fish to Russia and Ukraine, said, "If something should happen logically in Russia, you can be sure that nothing would happen in fact."

Three breweries have accused market leader Svyturys-Utenos Alus of abusing its dominant position in Lithuania. Rivals have complained about SUA's pricing of beer in PET bottles, as well as the company's terms and conditions pressed upon bars and restaurants on the draught beer market. The chief executives of the breweries Kalnapilio-Tauro Grupe, Guber-nija and Ragutis have sent an appeal to the parliamentary speaker, prime minister and the Competition Council, asking them to investigate whether SUA was violating the law on competition, which bans abuse of dominant position.
SUA has dismissed these accusations as unfounded. "It is hard to understand what we are being accused of. It is hard to realize why these accusations are being made now. As a matter of fact, our market share and sales decreased this year," Dainius Smailys, a SUA executive, said.

Arturas Paulauskas, chairman of Lithuania's Parliament, has requested an explanation as to the scandalous Anyksciu Vynas privatization from the head of the State Property Fund. Paulauskas asked how it was possible that representatives of Artrio-2, which never paid for Anyksciu Vynas, had been using property and vehicles owned by Anyksciu Vynas; thus, de facto running the company which they did not own.