The supervisory board of AS “Latvijas valsts meži” (LVM) has approved the company's 2024 performance report. The company closed 2024 with an audited net profit of 150.1 million euros, while revenue reached 598.8 million euros, the largest share of which — 94% — came from the sale of timber products. In 2025, LVM will pay 92% of the profit earned last year into the state budget: 111.0 million euros will be paid out in dividends and 27.8 million euros as corporate income tax on the dividend payment.
Zane Driņķe, Chair of the LVM Supervisory Board, notes:
“In 2024, despite the difficult conditions in the business environment and shifting export markets for Latvia, the company achieved outstanding performance, in many areas exceeding planned volumes and providing the state with more than 111 million euros in dividends and almost 28 million euros in corporate profit tax.
By making well-considered business decisions, the company even set several records last year — a year that was not short of challenges — while striking an excellent balance between the economic and social interests of society: last year saw the largest areas of forest regenerated and tended in the company's history, the largest volume of roundwood delivered and the largest volume of wood chips sold to date, and more free recreation sites restored in a single year than ever before.
These results would not have been possible without responsible and diligent teamwork, so thanks are due to all LVM employees for what they have accomplished together, delivering a substantial contribution to the state budget.”
More timber for Latvian companies
LVM is one of the most significant suppliers of timber products in Latvia. LVM supplies timber products prepared to a defined quality and specification to wood-processing companies — for example, sawmills, plywood mills, board mills, pellet mills, energy plants and other production facilities throughout Latvia — in line with an agreed delivery schedule.
In 2024, LVM sold and delivered roundwood to a total of 246 customers, reaching the largest volume of roundwood assortments in its history — 7.44 million m³ — while 672.7 thousand MWh of energy wood chips went to 13 customers. Most buyers are manufacturing companies registered in Latvia. In small volumes, LVM also sells and delivers timber to households, municipal institutions and other organisations that use the timber, mainly firewood, for their own needs.
Larger forest areas for carbon capture
Last year, state forests were regenerated and afforested across 20 thousand ha, the largest volume in the company's 25 years of operation. These are areas where, as the trees grow, carbon will be captured from the atmosphere every day. State forest areas are regenerated each year with selectively bred, highest-quality seedlings grown in LVM's tree nurseries, which ensure faster timber growth and therefore faster carbon capture.
In 2024, a total of 52.77 million forest tree seedlings grown in LVM's tree nurseries were delivered. Of that total, 23.91 million were sold to external customers, including 6.89 million seedlings exported.
Industry-significant innovations to raise efficiency
Confirming its status as an industry leader and finding new ways to manage the natural resources under its stewardship more efficiently, LVM continued to introduce a range of innovations in 2024. In the summer, one of the world's most efficient forest planting machines — PlantMax — was trialled. In good working conditions its output reaches up to 3,000 forest seedlings planted per hour, regenerating an area at least 16 times larger per day than is possible by hand. Since 2024, some young stands have been tended mechanically, which also yields energy wood at the same time.
To monitor and plan forest management more precisely, the company's fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles grew by 50 units during 2024 — to 170 — and it is now an indispensable aid in a variety of forest management tasks. In 2024, LVM received the first unmanned aircraft operating permit in Latvia, allowing pilots to fly beyond visual line of sight at a distance of 1 km within the specific category.
LVM GEO, the geospatial information technology platform developed by LVM in 2012 and widely used in Latvia, is increasingly being used in other countries — since 2024 also by the Swedish national property board “Statens fastighetsverk”.
A greater volume of mineral materials for construction
LVM manages 180 mineral extraction sites, which yield high-quality subsoil resources for the national economy and the company's own construction needs: peat, sand, and sand-gravel. In 2024, a total of 1,302 thousand m³ of mineral materials and mixtures were sold, generating revenue of 4.0 million euros. Last year, 61% more mineral materials were sold than in 2023. Some of the mineral materials produced by LVM were used in construction projects of public importance, such as the building of state regional roads.
The production process for mineral materials and mixtures provided by LVM complies with internationally recognised standards, allowing every buyer of mineral materials to be confident that the quality of the prepared materials meets all requirements for construction products.
Species of importance for nature conservation
LVM administers and manages 1.62 million hectares of land belonging to the Republic of Latvia, including 1.60 million hectares of forest land, of which 1.39 million hectares are forest. In 2024, the share of land held by the company — including forests, bogs, agricultural land and waters — that it manages with nature conservation as the primary objective increased, reaching 26.13%.
In 2024, LVM's environmental experts recorded 4,385 registrations of species important for nature conservation, including a liverwort that is very rare in Latvia — Taylor's flapwort, Mylia taylorii. Last year, fungi, plants and lichens were surveyed, as well as several rare species of insects, birds and mammals. Before starting forestry work, LVM regularly carries out surveys of natural values — species registrations are added to a map and forest management work is adapted so as to prevent negative impacts on biodiversity. By the beginning of 2025, LVM's environmental experts had accumulated 88 thousand registrations of various species important for nature conservation.
LVM employees also newly registered EU-important habitats covering a combined 1,825 ha in 2024. The largest areas surveyed were of the following forest habitats: 9010* Western taiga, 91D0* Bog woodland, 9020* Fennoscandian hemiboreal natural old broad-leaved deciduous forests, and 7110* Active raised bogs.
Free recreation sites in nature restored
People are heading out into nature more and more and making use of the recreation opportunities provided by LVM — 435 thousand visitors included LVM's free recreation sites in their walking routes, the highest figure in recent years. At the same time, in 2024 the company carried out its most extensive single-year programme of restoration and construction work at free recreation sites to date.
In 2024, LVM was rated the greenest brand in Latvia in the “Brand Capital” Baltic survey, allowing the company to retain its leading position as Latvia's greenest brand for the seventh year running, as well as ranking 2nd among Latvia's most humane brands.