Latvia Sawmill

BSW Latvia SIA is situated on the outskirts of Riga. It is the first mill outside the UK for BSW and brings its total number of sawmills to seven. The mill is on a 35-hectare site that has been purpose built to accommodate state of the art sawmilling machinery. This site was specially chosen to allow for further expansion in the future.

BSW Latvia SIA was formed in 1999 following extensive research into other key timber supply markets such as Russia and Central & Eastern Europe. The investment of £12 million provides the BSW Group with a significantly wider product portfolio enhanced by products from the Latvian mill, which cannot be derived from UK Fibre.

The foundations were laid in July 1999 and the mill was commissioned in May 2000. Annual input is 186,000 cubic metres of roundwood producing 100,000 cubic metres of sawn timber. The mill is designed to cut log lengths of 3.0m up to a maximum of 6.0m.

A huge amount of work has been involved in the recruitment and training of 170 employees to run the mill. BSW have taken great care to develop, train and establish a committed and skilled workforce in Latvia.

BSW Latvia SIA is an important development for the company and places BSW Timber as the leading UK sawmiller, with it's own manufacturing facility in Latvia. This is a unique position and differentiates BSW from other UK sawmillers and importers.

The sawmill is designed to enhance the value of the Latvian fibre and long lengths through additional processing and professional marketing.

Treatment tanks and kilns have been installed at the sawmill thus enabling the timber to be both treated and kiln-dried on site prior to despatch to customers.

The material produced by BSW's Latvian operation will be complimentary to the company's UK production and will enable BSW Timber to improve the service it provides to its key customers in the UK. The Latvian operation gives BSW the capability to provide longer lengths and higher grades of timber, which will be of particular interest to the merchant sector and the growing garden products' market sector.

Latvia
Location	Riga
Length Capacity	3.0 – 6.0 metres
Total Output	190,000 m3 sawn timber