Latvian Shrimp Farm to Expand, Launch Sales to Scandinavia, Russia

LATVIA - Latvian shrimp farm FishBode SIA has unveiled plans to launch sales to the Scandinavian countries and Russia, and build a new facility to expand the output capacity of its shrimp farm in 2018, according to senior company representatives.

Currently, about 50 per cent of the company’s output is sold in Finland, said Maris Hmelnickis, a member of the management board of FishBode, as reported by local news site Baltic-Course.com. The planned expansion is to enable the Latvian company to expand its presence in a number of foreign markets.

Under the plan, the designed facility will consist of three modules enabled to raise FishBode’s output capacity to some 100 tonnes of shrimp per year.

"Our export prospects are related with Scandinavia. They have very good logistics, and they have a broader range of organic goods, prices of which are higher than in other countries," Hmelnickis said.

FishBode plans to increase its exports to Finland, launch export sales to Sweden, and possibly establish itself in the Russian market, according to the official.

Speaking of the company’s plans to expand to further foreign markets, Hmelnickis said that the "demand is large, but we cannot meet it because [foreign customers] all need large amounts.”

"We are planning to expand to new markets because Latvia is a small market, and with our production capacity, we will be able to sell a maximum of between 20 per cent and 30 per cent in the domestic market, and the remainder will need to be exported," Hmelnickis said.

Set up in 2015, the Latvian company is a joint venture of local firms Mere Shimp Farms and TAER FZE which each hold a 50 per cent stake in FishBode. The firm is based in Auru, in the country’s southern Zemgale region.

Jaroslaw Adamowski 

Freelance journalist based in Warsaw, Poland