2011

Supply of timber certified by PEFC commenced in Latvia

JSC „Latvijas valsts meži” has commenced selling of PEFC-certified timber and delivery to its customer. The first batches have already reached the Latvian timber-processing plants. Thereby, Latvian entrepreneurs have raw materials allowing to manufacture and label products with a certification that the timber comes from forests managed in a well-balanced manner and in line with the environment, social, and economic requirements, and that maintenance, regeneration, and future increase of forest value, resources and ecological processes are ensured. The company currently holds 5 PEFC forest management certificates which, at the moment, cover more than a half of the forest territories managed by the company, and the plan is to certify all the managed forests until the end of the year.
Roberts Strīpnieks, Board Chairman of JSC "Latvijas valsts meži": „Latvia is currently experiencing a rapid growth of the number of timber-processing companies opting for certification of their timber product supply chain according to the PEFC Certification Plan. For this reason, we can expect an increasing demand for raw materials of this type. ”
JSC „Latvijas valsts meži” possesses 1.40 million hectares of state-owned forests, and the protection of their natural diversity has always been a substantial part of forest management. Last year, the turnover of the company was 215.97 million LVL, and the profit reached 78.32 million LVL.  Approximately 25 million young trees were planted in 2010 to regenerate 13,500 hectares of forest.
In a survey conducted by business journal “Kapitāls”, "IBS Prudentia" and "NASDAQ OMX Riga" in 2010, JSC “Latvijas valsts meži” ranked 5th in the List of 101 Most Valuable Latvian Companies.