First Christmas trees from Lithuania’s largest spruce plantation have already been shipped abroad. But according to business owners, the pandemic has made it difficult to find workers, while Brexit has forced them to look for new export markets.
The largest Lithuanian spruce plantation, located in Joniskis district, is growing around a million trees. It hopes to export close to 70,000 trees for this year’s Christmas season.
But unlike in previous years, Lithuanian trees will not be making their way to the UK.
“For many years, we have been shipping to England. But everything has changed in one day, so we are shipping everything to Scandinavia,” Daivanas Pranciulis, the owner of the plantation, said.
According to the businessman, this season is also difficult because of the pandemic and labour shortages.
“The Employment Service sends people who do not want to work. So I, my wife and the entire family must work in the plantation,” Pranciulis said.
The spruce plantation requires a lot of patience, he says, because it takes around 12 years to grow a tree ready to be decorated for Christmas.
A Christmas tree costs around eight euros. Despite a significant increase in costs, the tree price has not changed this year, according to Pranciulis. However, next year, he expects the prices to rise by at least a quarter. (LRT/Business World Magazine)