RIGA, Jan 19 (LETA) - The authority of the Liepaja Special Economic Zone (SEZ) concluded investment agreements worth 8.6 million last year, Liepaja SEZ acting CEO Uldis Hmielevskis said at a news conference Wednesday.

Four new companies launched operations at the Liepaja SEZ in 2021: Danish-capital furniture producer Kvist Industries, Lithuanian-capital fish product maker Syfud, Finnish-capital metal structures producer Premekon and Norplast Piemare, Norwehgian-capital company making large-size composite products for the Norwegian fish-farming and oil-producing industry.

Also, five new production plants were constructed in the territory of the Liepaja SEZ in 2021. Their total size is 20,840 square meters. Hmielevskis informed that these are iCotton, GF Powdercoating, MB Betons and RT Metals production facilities, as well as a production plant in Vecas Ostmalas Business Park.

Another three production facilities were under construction last year: Pumac Liepaja, EB Liepaja and Jensen Metal, which was completed at the beginning of this year. 

Liepaja SEZ board chairman Uldis Sesks informed that the port of Liepaja reloaded 7.06 million tons of cargo, which is an increase of 6.9 percent on 2020. 

Cargo of local origin made up around 50 percent of the port's cargo turnover, with grain accounting for the bulk of them. The steepest increase was recorded in the segment of ro-ro cargo, which grew 67.1 percent.