BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Discover nature in the city on a weekend trip to Estonia

Estonia is fast becoming a teeming tourist hot spot for a well-needed city break but there's a whole lot more to this picturesque country than its capital. We ventured on the road less travelled to discover the real Estonia.

Not many tourists venture further out than Tallinn's old town walls but as the avid adventurers we are, we explored the road less travelled. Check out what we did on our weekend trip to Estonia.

Where to stay?

The uber luxe St. Petersbourg Hotel is situated a teensy jaunt from the main square where you'll find the hustle and bustle of Old Town Tallinn. It's medieval charm and plush contemporary rooms have super comfy beds to fall into and large baths to soak your tired self after a long day of exploring.

Another awesome place to stay in the capital is the Savoy Hotel, situated where the city meets the old town walls. Its tradish rooms, art deco style and delish buffet brekkie make for a comfy stay.

Eat and drink?

Much to our delight, the food we experienced was out of this world. From the best steaks we've had in a long time to local delicacies like elk and fishy dishes, we ate and drank like queens.

Estonia's labor costs among the lowest in EU

Average labor costs in Estonia were 9 euros per person per hour in 2013, up from 8.4 euros in 2012, according to Statistics Estonia.

In member states of the European Union a more than tenfold difference was recorded in hourly labor costs last year at 3.7 euros in Bulgaria.

The highest average labour costs were in Sweden at 40.1 euros, while the average for the EU28 was 23.7 euros.

Sweden was followed by Denmark with 38.4 euros per person per hour and Belgium with 38 euros.

Estonia posted the EU's fastest growth in average hourly labor costs per person in the final quarter of the year at 7.2 percent. In Latvia the annual rate of increase was 5.9 percent, in Lithuania 5.7 percent, in Bulgaria 4.3 percent and in Poland 3.9 percent.

Toomas Hõbemägi

Nearly 80% Finnish tourists buy alcohol from Estonia

79% all Finnish tourists visiting Estonia buy alcohol from Estonia to take back home; they spend an average of 122 euros per buyer for that, a study by TNS Emor indicates, LETA/Postimees Online reports.

The purchases of Finnish tourists form 34% of alcohol sales in Estonian stores.

"The main alcohol shopping venues of Finnish tourists are ships and port stores," said TNS Emor's research expert Aivar Voog. "2% of Finns buy alcohol to go from Estonia up to three times a month, 7% buy 3–5 times in six months and 32% 1–2 times in six months."

While alcohol consumption among Estonians is decreasing, the sale of alcohol (absolute alcohol amount) in Estonian retail trade grew by 1.1% in 2013 while in monetary value it grew by over 5%. "This growth is contributed mainly by Finnish tourists whose alcohol purchases formed in volume terms 34% of the total alcohol sale in Estonia last year," said Voog.

The purchase volumes of weaker alcoholic beverages by tourists grew over 15% while Finns also tend to prefer strong alcohol less. 10.59 litres of absolute alcohol per capital was consumed in Estonia in 2011, in 2012 the figure was 10.33 litres and in 2013, it was 10.14 litres.

TNS Emor polled over a thousand Finns for the study in cooperation with TNS Gallup.

Ten NATO allies to back Baltic States

Ten countries have suggested strengthening the airspace above the Baltic States, the Estonian Ministry of Defense has informed DELFI reported.

According to representatives of the Estonia’s Defense Ministry Artur Jugaste, the United States, Poland, the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, Canada and Turkey have informed about their preparation to send the additional forces to the Baltic States. Jugaste has highlighted that the list of these countries can be expanded.

Moreover, the representative of the Estonia’s Defense Ministry has informed that the above-mentioned countries suggest various services, for example, to send the additional fighter aircrafts, fuel tankers and AWACS planes.

“Every country’s contribution will be applied,” said Jugaste. “The soldiers of these countries will be performing their tasks from Lithuania’s Siauliai Air Base and Poland’s Malbork Air Base as well as from Estonia’s Amari Air Base.”

Jugatse has highlighted that the determination of so many countries to strengthen the air-defense of the Baltic States gives the evidence about their loyalty to NATO’s collective defense and about the serious our allies’ attitude towards the regional security.

“Everything is included in the package of the retention measures which was adopted by the North Atlantic Council last week in order to strengthen the security in the Baltic Sea Region,” emphasized Jugaste.

Estonia to take EUR 172 mln from state companies as dividends

 The Estonian government is set to endorse 172 million euros as total dividends to be taken from state companies this year.

 The figure on the draft agenda of the government meeting is smaller by 10,000 euros than that envisaged in the 2014 state budget.

 The reduction is a result of a decision not to take dividend from the map maker AS Eesti Kaardikeskus, which needs money to finance investments.

 

Estonian business takes short-sighted view on Russian aggression

Estonian logistics and transit companies are actively participating at the transit fair TransRussia that started in Moscow this week. The businessmen in attendance say that politics only interferes with business and they “thank their luck” that Estonia has not made very vocal statements regarding the sanctions against Russia, reports Public Broadcasting.

Fifteen larger Estonian transport and logistics companies are represented at the Estonian stand at the fair, including Tallinna Sadam (Port of Tallinn), Eesti Raudtee (Estonian Railways Co.), Silport and others. Several smaller transit companies have their own fair stands too. This is where, they say, business finds new partners and contracts.

Estonian state-owned railway cargo company EVR Cargo board chairman Ahto Altjoe said that at the moment, EVR Cargo has two trains more a day traveling in the Russian direction than at the same time last year.

Kazakhstan to divert fuel oil exports away from Estonia

Kazakhstan plans to start fuel oil exports from Georgia's Batumi terminal in May, diverting some 700,000 tonnes from Baltic Sea ports, mainly in Estonia, by the year-end as it seeks to cut its costs and transit risks, Äripäev reported with reference to Reuters.

Kazakhstan has faced increasing competition from Russian oil product suppliers in the Baltic Sea ports, including Ust-Luga and Novorossiisk in the Black Sea.

There is also uncertainty over the tax regime in a Moscow-led customs union, to which the Central Asian country belongs. Russia plans to hike the duty on fuel oil exports from 2015. The Batumi terminal is operated by Kazakh state energy company KazMunaiGas. It is being modernised to be able to handle 80,000-tonne tankers, compared to 40,000-tonne tankers currently.

Thanks to the expansion, profitability has increased, adding the first tanker was expected on May 23-38. Last year, Kazakhstan produced 3.7 million tonnes (75,000 barrels per day) of fuel oil, of which 3 million tonnes it exported, mainly via the Baltic Sea ports.

Viktor Palmet, head of the Estonian Ports Association, said that it was difficult to comment the news report and its possible impact on Estonian oil transit trade.

NATO minesweepers set off on Baltic deployment

KIEL — Five NATO mine-hunting ships have set off on a deployment in the Baltic Sea — part of the alliance's efforts to strengthen its presence in Europe's ex-communist east as members there worry about Russia's intentions in Ukraine.

The ships — two from Norway and one each from the Netherlands, Belgium and Estonia — left the German port of Kiel Tuesday. The exercise, under Norwegian command, is to continue until the end of May, with the ships visiting several ports.

Commodore Arian Minderhoud, the NATO Allied Maritime Command's deputy chief of staff for operations, says the exercise "is part of the whole package of ... actions to show NATO's resolve, to show NATO's preparedness."

NATO said last week it was strengthening its military footprint along its eastern border.

After years of crisis, Estonians choose new homes based on long-term prospects

Held under the leadership of SEB last week, a meeting of real estate buyers and sellers in Estonia confirmed that someone buying a new home today must both carefully consider their family's actual needs and compare real estate offers that meet those needs before making a decision; often, a family will establish their borrowing capacity at the bank before even inspecting property for sale, the press service of the banking group SEB said in a statement.

According to real estate companies, home seekers will make a more appropriate and speedier choice if real estate developers, brokers and the bank all cooperate for the benefit of the client, cites LETA.

"Whereas after the downturn in the economy families were more cautious in planning purchases of new homes and were likelier to postpone making big financial decisions, the past couple of years have seen a noticeable increase in interest in purchasing new homes that suit families better. Compared to the so-called boom era from 2005 to 2007, the hallmark of those interested in new homes today is their significantly higher awareness. They will no longer latch on to the first real estate offer that comes their way. Fairly careful consideration is given to actual needs and comparisons are made of apartments / private residences meeting those needs", said Triin Messimas, Development Manager of Private Loans at SEB.

Sanctions against Russia may cost Estonia a billion euros

According to a study made by the European Commission, full sanctions against Russia would severely affect Estonia’s economy.

European Commission estimates that if EU would impose the toughest economic sanctions against Russia, it would reduce Estonia’s GDP by 5.6% which equals to about a billion euros, writes Eesti Päevaleht. Commenting the estimation, Estonian officials say that the European Commission’s approach is too simplistic and contains mistakes.

For instance, European Commission has estimated the potential loss to Estonia’s economy by deducting Russia’s role in Estonian trade as percentage of GDP although it is unlikely that EU and Russia would stop all trade even at the toughest sanctions.

Moreover, in terms of energy production, European Commission does not take into consideration that Estonia produces electricity from its own local oil shale and is not entirely dependent on imported electricity.

The classified study which looks at the impact of different sanctions on individual EU member states was delivered to representatives of every EU member last week. To avoid leaks, each member states received only the country-specific part of the analysis. The aim of the study was to estimate the impact of different level of sanctions that EU may impose against Russia for the latter’s annexation of the Crimea.

EU leaders warned in March that if Moscow starts to instigate riots elsewhere than in the Crimea, the EU is prepared to impose tougher sanctions. The study lists various levels of sanctions ranging from softer sanctions such as banning of exports of Russian luxury goods such as diamonds or caviar to banning of fertilizer imports and large-scale sanctions against Russia’s banking and financial system.

Toomas Hõbemägi

Easter weekend brings warm weather

Allergy sufferers are now advised to begin taking their anti-allergy medication, with birch trees forecast to begin blooming ahead of schedule and winds set to carry airborne pollen from Sweden and Russia in the days to come.

In addition, birch trees in southern Estonia are forecast to begin blooming over the Easter weekend, says Annika Saarto, a university researcher at the Aerobiology Unit of the University of Turku.

In fact, people sensitive to birch pollen may suffer from nasal congestion already today, as strong winds transport pollen particles to southern regions of the country, estimates Mikko Routala, a meteorologist at Helsingin Sanomat.

The winds are expected to die down on Saturday, offering temporary relief to allergy sufferers.

Overall, weather over the Easter weekend is forecast to be relatively warm. Despite overcast skies, the mercury may already on Friday climb to over ten degrees Celsius. On Sunday and Monday, the temperatures are forecast to increase further.

“It's T-shirt weather in the south, as temperatures rise to close to 20 degrees. Whether or not the 20-degree mark will be pierced, we shall see on Monday at the latest,” Routala says.

Tallinners to travel to Aegna for free

The Tallinn Town Council directed to the city council a draft decision to allow all Tallinners to use a vessel on a line Tallinn-Aegna-Tallinn for free, informed LETA the press service of the City of Tallinn.

The free rides are entitled by a common regular transport cards eligible for all residents of Tallinn.

Along with Tallinners, the free rides on the mentioned lines will be given to pre-school children, children with limited abilities, persons above 16 years with disabilities, as well as persons with damaged eyesight and their companions.

Open competition for the definition of a shipping line between Tallinn and the island Aegna that was organized Tallinn Transport Department, was won by the firm AS Kihnu Veeteed. Contract of carriage in this line is enclosed on the three navigation seasons – from 2014 to 2016.

Number of people wishing to leave Estonia down by a third

Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas said in the Parliament’s Q&A session this week that the positive news was that the number of people who wish to leave Estonia has down by a third.

Rõivas said that there had been two major studies made in 2010 and 2013 on emigration of working-age people.

“The comparison of these two surveys shows that the number of people who wish to leave Estonia is fallen by a third in three years. This is very good news,” he said.

Rõivas said that the main reason why emigration from Estonia was slowing down was that wage levels in Estonia and in neighouring countries becoming more even.

According to the PM that one acute problem was to find employment for healthcare workers, such as nurses.

Toomas Hõbemägi

Criminal police arrests head of Estonian mafia

In one of its largest operations against organized crime, the Estonian criminal police on Monday arrested several members of the Estonian mafia, including its head Assar Paulus, writes Postimees.

In the operation that was prepared for around six months, the criminal police arrested about twenty Estonians who are suspected being mobsters.

The court has authorized the public prosecutor to detain Paulus for a longer period under suspicion of organizing a criminal organization and violence.

Assar Paulus is considered the second most powerful criminal in Estonia, next to Nikolai Tarankov. He established himself in the criminal underworld after Kalev Kurg, head of the so-called Linnuvabrik mafia, was gunned down in 2005.

It is said that unlike Kurg, Paulus has always been open to cooperating with criminal gangs of other nationalities, including Chechens headed by Harun Dikajev. In 2006, Paulus was suspected of ordering an attack against Hans H. Luik, a media owner, but was not charged.

Two dead in truck-train collision in Estonia

TALLINN - Two Estonians are reported dead after a passenger train heading from the capital city of Estonia to Tartu collided with a truck at a crossing on Wednesday afternoon in Harju County, the north of the country, the Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR) reported.

One of the fatalities was a passenger on the train operated by the Estonian national railway corporation - Elron - when it bound for the second largest city Tartu, and the other was in the truck.

About 10 were injured among the estimated 100 passengers riding on the train when the accident occurred at around 3:30 p.m. (1220 GMT) near Raasiku, the northeast of Estonia, the ERR reported, quoting the Estonian police and rescue officials as saying.

A criminal investigation was opened and underway, the ERR said.

Estonia storms to gold

Four straight wins seals instant return to Division I.

BELGRADE – Unstoppable Estonia sweeps the field to win promotion from the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division II Group A in Belgrade to next year’s Division I Group B.

Never shaken nor stirred and eager to make amends for their disappointing demotion during last year's Division I Group B tournament in Donetsk, Ukraine, a new-look Estonia bounced straight back up a division with their credentials hardly been put to test. Seeing off Iceland (4-1), Australia (5-1) and Serbia (5-2), promotion was secured during Day 4 thanks to a 16-3 trouncing of newly promoted Israel. It marks the winning start and job done for the vastly experienced Finnish coaching duo, Sakari Pietilä and Harri Rindell, who stepped in at the helm of Estonia ahead of the tournament.

"We are the best team here, but this can also sometimes prove to be the hardest thing; to win when you know you must do so and while the pressure is on," said Pietilä, who together with his sidekick Rindell accepted the offer to take charge of Estonia just one month ahead of the Division II Group A in Belgrade giving them little time to stamp their mark on the roster. "The biggest challenge for us during our preparations was to try and find what players were best suited to play together," he continued.

Estonia must learn how to live next to an empire : Oleg Ossinovski

Oleg Ossinovski, one of Estonia’s richest businessmen and owner of a large group specializing in transit trade, says that Estonia must learn how to live next to an empire, but is not doing a good job right now.

In an interview to Postimees, Ossinovski said that Russia has been reducing its transit trade volumes passing through Estonia for political reasons and that recent news in Ukraine have made the situation worse.

“Events from recent weeks have already affected by businesses. Our revenues, profits have gone down sharply, and we have to downsize. We were also badly affected by the weakening of the Russian ruble because it happened at a very bad moment. We have large assets in Ukraine which have also been affected,” said Ossinovski.

In his speech in Pärnu Financial Conference held last week, Ossinovski said that Narva could become the provider of medical services to the middle-classes of St. Petersburg.

According to Ossinovski, if Estonia (Narva) and St. Petersburg were linked by rapid train service, Narva could become the bedroom for St. Petersburg.

One of Russia's biggest cosmetics industries will open a plant in Estonia

One of Russia's biggest cosmetics industries Natura Siberica will open a plant in Tallinn in October, intending to make natural cosmetics out of plants grown in the Estonian Saaremaa island, LETA/Postimees writes.

"We intend to send the first products to Estonian and foreign markets in October this year," the company's owner Andrei Trubnikov told Postimees. "By producing in Estonia, we can reduce the price of our cosmetics sold in Europe by a fifth, which will certainly increase trust towards us."

Trubnikov's Estonian-registered company Eurobio Lab invests up to 5 mln euros of money borrowed from banks in the plant developed in the former Coca-Cola plant in Tallinn's Mustamäe city district. Trubnikov plans that when the plant is working at full capacity, it will have a hundred employees and nearly 40 mln euros of annual turnover, which would form a tenth of the volume of his current business.

Trubnikov is also looking for land in the Saaremaa island to grow ecologically clean herbs and studies the nature of Saaremaa to create an Estonian cosmetic products series. "Estonia has a very good reputation in Russia and elsewhere in the world, which is why we hope to be a success with Estonian products," he said.

Andrei Trubnikov owns the company Pervoye Reshenie, which issues 30 brands of cosmetics. His brands include Retsepty Babushki Agafi, Organic Garden, Eco Hysteria etc. The brand and company Natura Siberica started out in 2007.

The company has four plants in Russia and stores in Moscow, St Petersburg and Rostov by Don. The company's turnover is nearly 53 million euros a year and export volume nearly 400,000 euros.

Money exchange startup TransferWise hits the £1 billion mark

Shoreditch-based TransferWise has now transferred over £1 billion of customers' money, a jump from £ 125 million almost a year ago.

Co-founder Taavet Hinrikus said it shows people are realising the ‘poor value’ that banks offer when it comes to sending money abroad.

‘In financial services there has been so little change for so long. But people won’t put up with opaque fees and poor service from banks any longer. TransferWise has saved our customers over £45m in banking fees,’ Hinrikus told MT.

TransferWise, which was started three years ago by Estonian-born Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Käärmann, was given a massive boost when Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Facebook’s first investor, invested $6m in the startup last May. It was the first European investment for Thiel's fund Valar Ventures.

The money has been used to grow the number of currency transfers that TransferWise offers, which now includes the Polish Zloty, Indian Rupee, Chinese Yuan and South African Rand. A year ago just some European currencies and US dollars were on offer. If one currency is in stronger demand, Hinrikus says the firm works with large institutional partners to deal with the imbalance at the opposite end.

Digital TV to soar in Eastern Europe

After years of being battered by inclement economic times, Eastern Europe's digital TV market is emerging as a stronger entity, says a report from Digital TV Research.

According to The Digital TV Eastern Europe report, digital TV penetration crossed the halfway mark of TV households in 2012, up from a third two years earlier and at the current rate will amount to two-thirds by the end of this year and 98.5% by 2020.

Of the 21 countries covered in the report, 13 will be completely digital by 2020 taking the lead of Estonia, the first to full conversion in 2012. From the 83.6 million digital TV homes to be added across the region between 2010 and 2020, Russia is set to contribute 40.7 million, with Ukraine increasing by 13.3 million and Poland 6.7 million.

In absolute terms, the number of digital TV homes will have tripled between 2010 and 2020; up from 41.0 million to 124.7 million. In the key paid-for sector, the number of digital pay-TV subscribers will have increased from 26.1 million (21.5% of TV households) in 2010 to 45.0 million (36.6%) in 2013 and to 73.6 million (58.2%) by 2020. Of the 52.3 million digital TV homes it calculates that will be added between 2013 and 2020, DTT is forecast to supply 24.9 million, digital cable 15.3 million, IPTV 6.6 million and pay satellite TV 5.8 million.

Looking at the business generated by the increased number of households, Digital TV Research predicts that pay-TV revenues in Eastern Europe will be 48% higher in the ten-year period to 2020 to $7.305 billion. Digital cable and IPTV revenues are set to more than double between 2013 and 2020, but satellite TV revenues, the mainstay of the industry, will likely only grow by 22% over the same period. Russia is expected to contribute $2.02 billion (28%) of the pay-TV revenues in 2020 — overtaking Poland in 2015 — and be responsible for nearly half of the region's $1.1 billion additional pay-TV revenues between 2013 and 2020. Russian TV ARPUs, traditionally very low, are set to increase.