Estonia, Good for Business, Markets and Companies, Metals Market

The use of production capacity reached a level comparable to 2007; shortage of workforce became a serious problem, said economy ministry, reported LETA.

 Price increase of imported metals in the world boosted producer prices of Estonian companies by 8% in a year while sales volume grew by 30% and exports by a quarter.

 Considerably more production than in the earlier year was sold to Finland, Sweden and USA. Metals industry was one of the biggest jobs creators as over 1,000 new jobs were added last year. Wage increase amounted to 10%. The number of the employed was still below the level of 3-4 years ago. Over 11,000 people work in the metals industry, being one of the biggest branches of industry after food and timber industries.

 Estonian Market Research Institute said though that at the end of last year and the beginning of this year the number of companies that noted inadequate demand grew considerably.

 Nearly a thousand companies operate in the sphere, the biggest being ArcelorMittal Tallinn, Eesti Energia Tehnoloogiatööstus, BLRT Marketex and Hanza Tarkon.