Fazer Lietuva, part of the international bakery and confectionery group Fazer, intends to close the bakery in Kaunas and concentrate all production in Ogre. As a result of structural changes in Kaunas, 182 of 218 employees will be laid off, the Lithuanian Employment Service said. “We will do everything to support employees and help them find jobs. Free positions in other Fazer branches will be offered to laid-off employees first,” said the head of Fazer Bakery Baltic, Anne Mere, writes ru.delfi.lt. Back in April, the company announced that it was considering the possibility of merging bakeries in the Baltic countries into one division, which would operate in the Latvian city of Ogre. An additional 60 people will be hired there. Investments in a modern warehouse, new picking processes and a renovated production building will amount to 18 million euros, the company said. These changes will allow Fazer to strengthen its position in the Baltic markets, ensure competitiveness, expand its product range and continue to develop exports. One bakery with an expanded warehouse for frozen and fresh products, new picking processes and modernized production facilities will improve supply chain efficiency, which is very important for all three Baltic markets. “We currently hold a strong 2nd place in Lithuania and Latvia and 3rd place in Estonia, and our goal is to strengthen this position. With the modernized production, we will be able to expand our well-known brands and product range with new categories,” explained earlier Head of Fazer Bakery Baltic Anne Mere. Consumption of packaged bakery products in the Baltic countries has been declining for several years in a row, and last year the bread market shrank by 2%, the company said. Consumers are looking at prices more often, so more and more different campaigns are being launched, which leads to price competition and lower profits. According to the Register Center, last year Fazer earned 944.8 thousand euros in net profit – 2.2 times more than in 2022 (426.9 thousand euros) and received 23.7 million euros in income – by 10% more (21.5 million euros).