Export

Lithuania’s exports achieved the best results during the entire period of the country’s independence – in October 2010 a record increase in exports of goods was recorded – as much as 5,4 billion litas.

Agrave crisis in the motherland encouraged Lithuanian manufacturers to fight for a place under the sun in foreign markets. Economic analysts oh and ah – at the end of 2010 Lithuania’s exports reached undreamed-of heights, which were unreachable before the crisis. Economists are unanimous on this point – exports brought Lithuania’s economy to life again. Lithuanian business people did not neglect the old markets, but they have also found new “targets”. Statistics illustrates success.

For example, last December, the exported goods totalled 5,42 billion litas. Records were achieved in October and in November too. Prior to that, the exporters’ best achievement was the months of the year 2008 when exports hardly reached 5 billion litas. During the entire year of 2010, the Lithuanians sold goods in foreign markets totalling 54,3 billion litas, which is as much as 33.2 per cent more than in 2009.

There are plenty of new territories on the map of Lithuanian exports, though the old ones did not disappear either. When large companies find serious buyers, general statistical indicators of the country rise. For example, this was the case with India, the largest purchaser of Lithuanian fertilisers. Lithuanian PET products have the largest market share in Germany, and Swedes order the largest quantities of Lithuanian furniture.

 
Last year Russia was Lithuania’s largest trading partner (15.6 per cent of total export). This was in part determined by the sales of Lithuanian agricultural and food products. Lithuanian vegetables and dairy products, cheeses, in particularly, have an enormous demand in Russia and it is not decreasing.

Furniture to the Swedish concern
Success of Lithuanian furniture-makers depends to the greatest extent on the Swedish concern Ikea. Last year this concern “fed” Lithuanians with its orders, hence, a leap in exports of furniture was giant.

The largest furniture-makers, who have ensured their positions abroad, did not feel any recession at all. The major customer Scandinavian concern Ikea helped one of the largest furniture manufacturing companies in the country Vilniaus baldai, as well as other large furniture manufacturing companies in the country, keep their export volumes. On the whole, Sweden is the largest purchaser of Lithuanian furniture (14.1 per cent).

Aidas Mackevičius, Director General of Vilniaus baldai referred to the past year as the best year in the history of the Company. In the course of ten years, after Swedish concern IKEA set foot in Lithuania, it has become the most desirable customer of every company of greater capacity.

According to Raimundas Beinortas, manager of the association Lietuvos mediena, despite the prolonged crisis, furniture industry remained one of the major branches of industry that revived the country’s exports.

Lithuanian fuels to the entire world
There is no concealing the fact that last year export volumes increased most considerably because of trade in oil products. Oil refinery Orlen Lietuva found a great number of purchasers of its new products, which also influenced statistics greatly.

The only oil processing plant Orlen Lietuva in the Baltic States functions in Lithuania. Last year this large oil refinery sold as much as 49.4 per cent more diesel fuel and petrol abroad than the year before last. Consequently, statistics of Lithuania’s export rose to undreamed-of heights.

In the domestic market, however, Orlen Lietuva, which is run by the Poles, did much worse. Consumption of petrol dropped by as much as 25 per cent.

Last year was as good a year for Lithuanian fertiliser manu-facturers as never before. Last year fertilisers increased in price almost twofold. So, the manufacturers could boast of the spectacular export results. For example, Këdainiai Company Lifosa sells fertilisers to 30 countries, and in Lithuania their sale accounts for 1.4 per cent of total turnover only. The Company hardly manages to fulfil all the orders, and India has become the largest purchaser of Lithuanian fertilisers. Having suspended production in 2009, manufacturers of fertilisers caught up on it last year. As much as 82.2 per cent of all production was exported and this figure was much higher than the last year’s one or that of the year before last.

Recovery of textile companies
Another tendency is that Lithuanian textile industry, which earlier was written off, suddenly recovered last year as European customers began to turn away from China. The Lithuanians who work in a more qualitative and flexible way made use of that and found many new buyers not only in Europe but also in the East and African countries. This enabled Lithuanian textile industry to increase its exports by as much as 22.8 per cent. Last year as much as 90 per cent of textile articles manufactured in Lithuania were exported.

The secret of Lithuania’s success is Germany
Last year some tendencies strengthened in Lithuanian exports. For example, last year the country’s exports to the countries of the CIS rose especially rapidly – 52.9 per cent more than the year before last (as compared with exports to the EU countries, which increased by as much as 26.6 per cent). It is true, transit goods took the lion’s share there, for example, second-hand motor cars.

However, according to the analyst of SEB bank Gitanas Nausėda, economies of Germany, Poland, Latvia, the United Kingdom and Russia are of greatest significance to exports of Lithuanian goods. It is the users and customers of these countries that raised the possibilities of Lithuanian exporters.

For example, Germany, the economically strongest European state, was among those markets where Lithuanian goods were most successfully sold. Goods of Lithuanian origin exported to Germany account for as much as 88 per cent of total exports. It is mainly plastic. PET preparations, furniture, fertilisers, meat products, milk. It was the fact that Germany’s economy has strengthened considerably that determined success of our exporters. Germany is the largest purchaser of Lithuanian machinery and equipment (12.5 per cent). Furthermore, Lithuania is Germany’s main PET products trading partner. Lithuania has been put on the list of six largest suppliers according to the sales of furniture and bicycles too.

Last year demand for Lithuanian sitting-room and bed-room furniture increased dramatically in Germany and its exports grew by as much as one third as compared with that in 2009. Export of bicycles increased by as much as 60 per cent.

Attention to “non-traditional markets” has increased
SEB bank analyst Gitanas Nausėda notices a keen interest that the Lithuanian business people took in “non-traditional” markets. It is not only manufacturers of fertilisers but also large milk processor Rokiškio sūris that export their production to India. The Company Pieno žvaigždės also focuses its eyes on that country. The Company Panevėžio aurida is thinking of starting selling compressors in China, and the biotechnology group Fermentas intends to increase its sales there.

Import exceeds export
Last year not only exports but also imports were on the increase in Lithuania. It is true, the latter grew faster. Fuel constituted the largest part among the imported goods. Some trades people imported more diesel fuel, liquid gas. Therefore imports of mineral products grew by as much as 33.3 per cent. Imports of mechanical equipment, electrical equipment, and chemical products were also on the increase.

Russia further remained the largest import partner (32.6 per cent of total imports). Lithuania’s loyal trading partner Germany took 10 per cent of the market last year. Products of the European Union states account for more than half of imports. All in all, goods totalling 60,9 billion litas were imported into Lithuania.