RIGA, June 15 (LETA) - Latvijas Valsts Mezi (LVM), the company managing Latvia's state-owned forests, has concluded this year's spring reforestation season, during which 13,800 hectares of state forests were restored by planting approximately 29 million tree seedlings and sowing 110 kilograms of pine seeds, LVM informed LETA.

Thanks to favorable weather conditions, the forest planting work proceeded smoothly, and the service providers completed the work on time and in good quality, LVM said.

This year, reforestation work started at the end of March with tree planting in the Zemgale region and continued at the beginning of April with machine sowing of pine seeds in eastern Vidzeme.

Traditionally, the largest forest area was restored by planting with hand tools - in this way, 12,700 hectares of forest were restored at the beginning of the year. The remaining area was restored by machine sowing 319 hectares and machine planting 790 hectares of forest. If weather conditions are favorable in June and the soil retains sufficient moisture, LVM plans to continue machine planting throughout the month, the company said.

In total, LVM has planted about 29 million seedlings of various species of selected forest trees this spring. The largest number of seedlings planted was pine - 16 million, followed by spruce with nine million seedlings and birch with three million seedlings. Alder, oak, and other tree species were also planted at the beginning of the year. The largest reforestation work was carried out in the Dienvidkurzeme municipality, where 2,700 hectares of forest were planted.

Ritvars Zemelis, LVM's Head of Forestry Production Planning, explains that this winter the snow cover melted in mid-March, allowing the planting of forest trees to start in the second half of March. Thanks to the service providers, it was possible to quickly reschedule and organize the work according to the weather conditions, achieving high volumes.

This year, LVM intends to reforest 20,000 hectares by planting, sowing, and natural restoration. In the fall season, a further 1,200 hectares of forest will be planted, with around 2.5 million tree seedlings.

As reported, LVM's turnover in 2025 was EUR 604.585 million, which is 3.2 percent more than a year earlier, while the company's profit increased by 37.7 percent year-on-year to EUR 206.73 million.

LVM was registered in 1999 and has a share capital of EUR 525.989 million. LVM manages state-owned forest land. LVM is solely owned by the state, with the Ministry of Agriculture as the shareholder.