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He said that the decision to liquidate sugar industry in Latvia had been right at the time.

"First, sugar plants had been out-dated, they were performing their functions, but were not profitable and were not able to compete with other producers in Europe. In Latvia they were able to process some 6,000 tons, while a similar plant in Germany processed 12,000 tons per day," said Vejs.

He said that sugar production might be resumed in Latvia some time. "There is interest at present. We have not promised not to process sugar beets for ever. The agreement is in force until 2011, then we may resume production. There are people who consider investing resources and building a modern sugar plant," said the businessman.

There were two sugar plants in Jelgava and Liepaja operating in Latvia until 2007, but they stopped operations after the sugar reform was introduced in the European Union (EU), providing for considerable reduction for sugar prices and production. Latvia decided to receive compensation and stop sugar production.