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JUVA RISES
FROM THE ASHES
COUNTRY
REPORT - LATVIA
A few years ago, Juva, one of the largest tyre retreaders in the Baltic region, ceased operation, citing rampant uncertainty in the market. The production line was sold to new owners, who not only brought the operation back to life but also harbour ambitious expansion plans.
Juva Plus, a successor to Juva, is a relatively young company, though it is wrong to consider its management inexperienced, according to Dmitrijs Lukjanovs, director of the company. Old Juva traced its roots back to the mid- 1990s, when the regional tyre market was in short supply, while a meteoric growth in demand made the rationale behind establishing a retreading plant quite clear.
In the next few decades, Juva became one of the key players in the truck tyre retreading industry in the Baltic
region, handling from 7,000 to 10,000 retreads per year. However, the general depression in the sector, partly owing to an inflow of cheap tyres from outside Europe, took a high toll on business. The former owners decided to curtail operations, following the path of numerous other truck tyre retreaders in this corner of Europe.
“The retreading part was acquired by people with a long-term experience in this business,” Lukjanovs said, adding that the new team needed to start over in a new location, which was a tricky task,
especially since the market situation left a lot to be desired.
“It’s hard to evaluate the past years. We had to deal with COVID-related restrictions, total lockdown, post-Covid economy-boosting plans embarked on by the EU governments, and last but not least – the war in Ukraine,” Lukjanovs said.
A THORNY PATH
In the past, Latvia served as an important transit hub connecting Europe with the
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