Some chemical companies in Lithuania could produce explosives – body

VILNIUS – Some large chemical companies in Lithuania could shift their operations to produce explosives, Vidmantas Janulevicius, president of the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists, says.

"Lithuania's industrial sector produces a wide variety of products that can be used for civil defense, including energy infrastructure, communication equipment and many others. We believe that our closer cooperation will create opportunities to collect more of the same taxes," Janulevicius told journalists on Wednesday after his meeting with Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite. 

"The next decade, apparently, as the minister mentioned, will not be calm geopolitically, so again we have to make this partial shift in the industry we represent as it could produce a very large number of different products, different munitions, including projectiles and explosives, perhaps by changing the operations of a few large companies linked to the chemical industry," Janulevicius said, without mentioning specific companies.

He also pointed out that the existing legislation, including European legislation, now limits the use of funds for industrial reorientation.

Lithuania has two large chemical companies, including Achema, a Jonava-based nitrogen fertilizer producer, and Lifosa, a Kedainiai-based phosphate fertilizer maker. The latter is now under the supervision of a temporary state-appointed administrator and is currently temporarily inactive due to the Western sanctions against its owners.