Agriculture, Estonia, Good for Business, Markets and Companies

"The slight revenue growth was supported by the increase in domestic demand that resulted from an improvement in consumer confidence. However, exports slowed down due to the weak demand in Estonia's major trading partners, Finland and Sweden," said the Ministry of Agriculture Trade and Agro-Industry Department Head Taavi Kand.

On 68 million euros of sales revenues, 4.9 million euros in profit was earned, which is by over a half more than a year earlier. "The total profit of fruit and vegetable industries grew last year significantly faster than the average of the food industry fields of operations, mainly as a result of growth in net sales and cost savings," said Kand. However, with the 53% increase of the total profit, the low comparison basis has to be taken into account – in 2013, raw material prices increased significantly and profits fell by almost 40%, informs LETA.

Fruit and vegetable industries exported last year for nearly 21 million euros, which was more than 10% less than in 2013, which was the indirect result of Russian sanctions.

According to preliminary data, the fruit and vegetable-processing companies employed an average of 722 people last year, which was by 128 more than a year earlier.