Fazer

Fazer Latvija is part of the international “Fazer” Group, founded in 1891 in Finland. The concern specializes in the production of bread, sweets, and other cereal and plant-based products. Fazer Latvija is one of the largest bakeries in the country: the Ogre factory supplies bread and other products not only to Latvia, but also to Estonia, Lithuania, and Finland. The group’s trust in Latvia is also evident in its large-scale investments: last year they reached 18 million euros, and additional improvements of more than one million euros are planned for next year.

The past year marked a turning point for the Fazer structural unit in Latvia. The company made a strategic decision to merge its Baltic bread factories and concentrate production in one location – the Ogre region. Until now, production had taken place both in Latvia and Kaunas, but a detailed analysis showed that modernizing and consolidating production in Latvia would deliver greater long-term benefits. 

With the implementation of this plan, total investments in Latvia reached 18 million euros. These funds were used to modernize and expand the production building, install three new production and assembly lines, and build a new warehouse. Around 60 new jobs were created at the Ogre factory during the project. As a result, the total number of employees at “Fazer” bread and confectionery factories in Latvia now exceeds 300. 

“This was a strategic decision that has strengthened our market position, improved efficiency, and created one of the most modern and competitive bread factories in the Baltics,” emphasizes factory director Kalvis Fjodorovs.

Fazer Latvija is one of the two largest bakeries in the country. Last year, the company achieved a turnover of 34.63 million euros and is the second-largest player in Latvia’s freshly packaged bread segment. The capacity of the Ogre bakery is impressive: on average, 1,800–1,900 tons of products are produced per month, while annual output reaches 22–23 thousand tons.  

The decision to maintain and modernize production in Latvia was not self-evident. It followed a careful analysis comparing Latvia with continued development in Kaunas. Several factors favored concentrating production in Latvia. First, Ogre’s location in the center of the Baltics – between Estonia and Lithuania – provides advantageous logistics and easy access to national transport routes. Second, the production plant in Ogre could be expanded, while the Kaunas bakery, located in the city center, had no space to grow. Third, although the labor market in Latvia is challenging, it is still more favorable than in Kaunas, where active business promotion policies have created especially fierce competition for employees.