🇱🇻🇱🇹Latvia: Vilvi Group starts commercial cheese production at its Bauska plant
Commercial cheese production has started at Baltic Dairy Board in Bauska, Latvia, a milk processor owned by Lithuania’s Vilvi Group. The company says more than €60m has been invested in the new production complex. The first batch was shipped to customers in Italy in the second half of January.
Once fully operational, the factory is expected to create more than 100 jobs and reach 18,000 tonnes of cheese per year. At that level, the Bauska plant alone would account for approximately 6–7% of total cheese production in the Baltic states, making it one of the largest single-site additions to regional dairy processing capacity in recent years. Output is planned primarily for export, with deliveries to 40+ countries.
The project is Vilvi Group’s largest investment to date. In 2024 it was presented as a €50m build, with the final investment volume exceeding €60m by the time commercial production started. Financing combines Vilvi Group’s own funds and bank lending, with Latvia’s state development finance institution ALTUM providing an €8.5m loan under the Large Investment Loans programme.
Vilvi Group’s core industrial base remains in Lithuania, where it operates Vilkyškių pieninė, Modest, Kelmės pieninė, Kelmės pienas and Pieno logistika, while Baltic Dairy Board, acquired in 2021, serves as the group’s Latvia platform. The group positions itself as Lithuania’s third-largest milk processor, with an estimated ~20% share of the domestic market.
In parallel with the Bauska ramp-up, Vilvi Group has continued to expand its product portfolio. On 16 January 2026, its listed arm Vilkyškių pieninė AB completed the acquisition of 100% of Marijampolės pieno konservai UAB, adding capacity in canned dairy products, butter and milk powders. The transaction strengthens the group’s presence in long-shelf-life and industrial dairy segments alongside fresh and cheese production.
The start-up in Bauska comes amid a more challenging external trade environment. Since 23 December 2025, China has applied provisional countervailing duties of up to 42.7% on certain EU dairy products, including cheese, in the context of broader EU–China trade tensions.
Sources: LSM (Latvian Public Media); ALTUM; Nasdaq Baltic and company disclosures; GlobeNewswire.
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