2015

Almost 10 million forest seedlings exported

By mid-October this year, "LVM Seeds and Seedlings" tree nurseries  managed by JSC "Latvian State Forests" sold 44 million forest seedlings, 9.4 million of which were exported to foreign customers. 22.9 million trees were planted in LVM territories, but 11.7 million – sold to local foresters.

The amount of exported seedlings has grown this year, as compared with the previous year, when the company exported 8.8 million.

"We are still about to export a portion of seedlings to Sweden at the end of the year. Clients there will place them in their cold storage rooms to sell them during the spring of next year. Following a special Estonian State Forests' order this year, we cultivated 1 million container pine seedlings for Estonian forests," says Laima Zvejniece, Deputy Director of "LVM Seeds and Seedlings". LVM tree nurseries offer both container seedlings and bare root seedlings of pine, fir, and birch trees with improved root systems. Among the exported tree species, the most popular one is fir, but over the last years, large amount of pine seedlings are being exported to Sweden and Estonia, but to Lithuania – hybrid aspen. The majority of seedlings for foreign markets are exported from the modern nurseries at Podini and Strenci.

Laima Zvejniece points out: "Our main goal is to satisfy the needs of Latvian foresters. The capacity of our tree nurseries is huge; we can afford to export too, thus, strengthening not only LVM's economic growth, but also the entire economy of Latvia."

The company runs nine tree nurseries: Strenci, Mazsili, Podini, Kalsnava, Pope, Jelgava, Valmiera, Smiltene, and Plavinas. These nurseries offer pine, fir, birch, black alder, larch, and the fast-growing aspen seedlings in an area of 334.6 ha. At the same time, the company also develops its decorative plant production, and has created seedling trade squares.