Latvian meat business to invest up to €7m next year

Andrius Pranckevičius, chief executive of PF Ķekava, said that some of the investments would include upgrading the company’s slaughterhouse, increasing the capacity of the firm’s packaging lines, as well as expanding PF Ķekava’s storage facilities.

“We have more products to store than the current capacity of the storehouses permits, so we need to boost this capacity, for instance by buying more refrigerators,​” Pranckevičius said, as reported by local news site Baltic-Course.com.

PF Ķekava’s fiscal year runs from 1 July to 30 June.

Meat output to increase​

In the coming years, PF Ķekava aims to increase its output by at least 30%, according to Pranckevičius. The chief executive said the company was also planning to invest in raising the capacity of its subsidiary, local poultry producer and processor Lielzeltiņi.

PF Ķekava owns a meat processing plant in Ķekava, in Latvia’s central part, in close proximity to the country’s capital Riga. The company’s portfolio consists of a wide range of processed poultry meat products. These include hams, fillets, wings, drumsticks, legs and others, according to data from the company.

It is noteworthy that, over the past few years, Lithuania’s poultry meat consumption has continued to grow. In 2015, an average Lithuanian consumed 29kg of poultry meat. This represented an increase of 11% compared with a year earlier, and twice the average consumption from 2005, according to figures from the US Department of Agriculture. Poultry meat also remains the most popular meat in Lithuania, and in 2015, it represented 42% of the country’s total meat consumption.

Lithuanian group expands in Latvia​

In 2013, Lithuanian agricultural holding Linas Agro Group acquired a 55.29% stake in the Latvian meat industry player. Local company SIA Lielzeltiņi owns 36.28% of the shares in PF Ķekava, and the remaining 8.43% is owned by other investors, the company said.

In 2014, another acquisition allowed Linas Agro Group to further increase its foothold in the Latvian meat industry, as the conglomerate acquired a 100% stake in Lielzeltiņi, as well as two other poultry industry players. The Lithuanian group comprises 35 subsidiaries in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Denmark, and employs a total workforce of more than 2,200.

Set up in 1967, PF Ķekava says its facilities are ISO 22000-certified. In addition to the Latvian market, the company exports its output to the two neighbouring Baltic States, Estonia and Lithuania, as well as to Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, and Uzbekistan, according to data released by the company.
 
Lielzeltiņi exports its output to the UK, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Estonia and Lithuania. The company sells its products under the Bauska brand. Lielzeltiņi’s facilities are located 67km south of Riga.