News

ERR - Loudspeakers created by the Tallinn-based design think tank Estelon received the CES Innovations 2012 Design and Engineering Award on November 8.

The group's XA DIAMOND model, which was honored in the competition's High Audio Performance category, will be showcased at the International CES exhibition in Las Vegas from January 10 to 13.

CES is an acronym for the International Consumer Electronics Show, one of the world's largest technology trade shows, organized annually by the Consumer Electronic Association. The aim of the award is to recognize achievements in product design and engineering.

Read more: http://news.err.ee/sci-tech/026bd5a8-fe6f-4f74-9867-540b6442811f

ERR - The city council of Kohtla-Järve has called for an environmental impact assessment for the diesel refinery to be built by Viru Keemia Grupp (VKG).

The November 9 decision to initiate the assessment makes VKG the first domestic motor fuel producer, with a plan to build a 260 million euro refinery in the northeastern city, Eesti Päevaleht reported.

The plant is expected to produce 400,000 tons of Euro 5 diesel out of oil shale, making up two-third of Estonia's annual needs.

Read more: http://news.err.ee/economy/49087dc7-acb5-4b93-9074-7736434f6358

ERR - Flash estimates released from Statistics Estonia on November 11 put Estonia's third-quarter GDP growth at 7.9 percent, generally continuing the same fast-paced growth seen since the beginning of the year.

Compared to the second quarter, seasonally and working-day adjusted GDP was up by 0.8 percent.

The third-quarter figure marks a slight drop from the 8.5 percent and 8.4 percent growth seen in the first two quarters of this year, which were the highest in the EU.

Read more: http://news.err.ee/economy/328a75b0-bce8-48be-85a8-395c2ef07dae

ERR - Finnish President Tarja Halonen recognized the Estonian Tax and Customs Board with an award for innovation on Thursday.

The award was given for services said to be unique in the world, such as the client-based prepayment account, available in the Estonian tax system, which consolidates numerous taxes under one payment and was first used in 2009.

The Tax and Customs Board's new accounting and debt management systems were completed at the end of 2010.

“The Tax and Customs Board has considered it of primary importance to simplify life for the taxpayer,” said agency director Enriko Aav.

Read more: http://news.err.ee/economy/824161fb-8660-4171-9ee6-974868bf6a0b

BNS – The Singapore-based Tolaram Group plans to build a biomass-fired cogeneration plant estimated to cost 30 million euros in the Estonian town of Kehra.

The annual capacity of the plant is planned at 108 gigawatt-hours of thermal energy and 63 GWh of electric energy. The aim is to launch the plant by the end of 2014, Tolaram said.

Tolaram is preparing the project in cooperation with Estonia's state-owned energy group Eesti Energia. "The talks with Eesti Energia have advanced well and we've arrived at a protocol of intent," the head of Tolaram Group's Estonian operation, Sonny Aswani, said.

Aswani and Eesti Energia CEO Sandor Liive signed the protocol of intent on Wednesday in Singapore in the framework of Prime Minister Andrus Ansip's visit.

"Kehra has good conditions for building a cogeneration plant as the Horizon pulp and paper mill needs around the year thermal energy that can be used to produce electricity. Eesti Energia is looking for opportunities to diversify its production portfolio, developing combined heat and power generation in areas where it makes sense economically," Liive said. The investment decision is to be made next year.

The energy produced by the cogeneration plant will be used by Horizon Pulp and Paper that is owned by Tolaram and exports sack kraft papers to 50 countries of the world.

ERR - Flanked by one of the most high-profile delegations of logistics companies assembled in recent years, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip continued his Southeast Asia trip with a visit to Singapore where he called on local business leaders to invest in Estonia.

Fresh off the Hanoi leg, Ansip's delegation was joined by several additional logistics companies for the stop in the city-state of five million, including a business forum.

In meetings with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Minister of Trade and Industry Teo Ser Luck and with entrepreneurs at a business forum, Ansip pitched favorable investment opportunities offered by Estonia.

“Estonia and Singapore are both known as favorable entrepreneurial environments and rank high in international indexes of economic freedom," said Ansip. "Personal contacts between heads of government create confidence regarding development of cooperation between companies as well as for investments."

Read more: http://news.err.ee/politics/79434577-4c6a-4c5a-a794-45cd44bb2789

BNS – Hekotek, a machine and metal industry company operating in Juri outside Tallinn, has signed a 20 million euro contract with the Russian forestry company Lessosibirsk LDK NO 1, the daily Eesti Paevaleht reported.

Earlier Hekotek has supplied to the company a round timber sorting line. By the new contract recently signed the earlier installions dating from 1968 will be replaced by new and more powerful ones and according to Lessosibirsk LDK NO 1 is the Russian company with the biggest annual output.

Under the contract signed with Hekotek two round timber feeding installations and a conveyor system will be acquired from the main contractor, while two bark removers and and the sawing line from the Finnish partner, Valon Kone OY and Veisto OY and two sawn timber sorting lines in cooperation with the Finnish subsidiary Heinola Sawmill Machinery.

Although there are three more companies behind the same seller, only the Estonian company's name is reflected in the contract, a characteristic legal nuance in conducting business in Russia.

Delivery of the equipment to the Lessosibirsk sawmill in Karsnoyarsk Krai will start about midsummer next year. According to Hekotek's forecast the equipment will be transported on 120 railway wagons and will be installed on location. In  oline with the contract the cost of the equipment should be transferred by November 11.

Lessosibirsk LDK No 1 can saw its first timber with the new machines only at the end of last year. According to Hekotek sales director, Tonis Haldna, the company will start delivery of the equipment about the end of next June and it would take four weeks. Customs formalities will follow and installation of the equipment will last another half a year, he told the paper.

Haldna said that talks over new equipment were now going on with the same company but not in the same range with the present order.

In fact, Russian companies are the main contractors of Hekotek's equipment, the paper wrote. The company has thought about building a factory in Russia. Haldna said that there were plans to establish a joint venture in the Urals, but as the production and labor costs were practically at the same level as in Estonia or even higher, the plan was dropped.

The turnover of the 1992-established Hekotek was more than 17 million euros last year with the operating revenue at above 2.1 million euros, The company has 70 employees. The company operates on export markets with the local sales representations.

Hekotek belongs 82.5 percent to Lifco Group, a company based on Swedish capital headed by the Swedish businessman Carl Bennet.

ERR - Surface Labs International, a developer of interactive multi-touch technologies, joined Tartu Science Park's incubation center.

Only founded in March, the startup is the first of its kind in the Baltic region, reported teadus.err.ee. The company hopes to get support for product development from the science park, said Raul Sõmer, CEO and co-founder of the company.

The first product of Surface Labs is a touch-screen bar counter, which will be presented at the science park on November 3.

“The company has potential is internationally ambitious,” said Karin Jaanson, project manager at the incubation center.

Read more: http://news.err.ee/sci-tech/21a69b41-6242-40b6-9348-86d477a6afca

ERR - CEO of Microsoft Steve Ballmer was in Tallinn on November 2 to take part in staff meetings at the Estonian branch of Skype.

Ballmer was accompanied by CEO of Skype, Tony Bates, wrote Äripäev. The fact of the visit, however, was announced only after it was over, by Sten Tamkivi, head of Skype Estonia.

"We are a division of Microsoft and Ballmer was taking part in a staff meeting," said Tamkivi. He said there were no discussions at the meeting about relocating the Estonian offices to another country. “We only talked about the work ahead and our next steps. Undoubtedly we will start hiring more people,” Tamkivi said.

Read more: http://news.err.ee/economy/244d2c2c-b80d-4d5a-a37d-fac6028f8dc0

ERR - The government wants to restore the national carrier to flagship status.

Estonian Air, long associated with an aging small fleet of Boeings, and struggling to compete with low-cost carriers, will receive 30 million euros of investment over the next few years and purchase five new Bombardier aircraft.

Three of the new planes will swap out the old Boeings and help cut operating costs, the government communication unit said in announcing the cabinet's approval of the company's growth strategy on Novermber 3.

Having two more planes in the fleet will help increase frequency of flights. Four of the planes will reach Estonia in 2012, the fifth one in 2013.

Read more: http://news.err.ee/economy/c7982aa7-9cd4-4ec0-a50b-afe40c24dec4