Market leader says quality produce is key to success

ANTANAS TRUMPA Chief Executive Officer of Rokiskio Suris

Agricultural and food products make up around 10% of Lithuania's total exports and within Lithuania's agriculture sector diary products play a key role. Rokiskio Suris, one of the country's largest dairy producers, is situated in the beautiful highland region of Lithuania, a region famous for its lakes, forests, and traditional milk farming techniques. It is within this setting that Rokiskio Suris produces its famous cheeses.

Founded in 1966, the company was privatized 10 years ago. It has made a name for itself worldwide as a producer of high-quality cheeses and has registered impressive growth in the last six years. Between 1996 and 2000, sales increased from US$31 million to US$77 million. As well as occupying a 50% share of the Lithuanian domestic cheese market, Rokiskio Suris now delivers products to 15 countries worldwide and exports account for nearly 80% of production, the majority going to Russia and the U.S. CEO Antanas Trumpa believes that Rokiskio Suris's success is based on the excellence of its products. "10 years ago our motto was already expressed in one word–quality. Today it’s the same. We believe that quality must come from the very beginning, from the production of the milk, up to the final product. Our cheese is one of the very best in the world because it is made with only ecologically clean raw materials."

DALIUS TRUMPA Production Director of Rokiskio Suris

To ensure that it continues that way, Rokiskio Suris has invested heavily in its facilities, updating equipment and techniques to meet ISO 9001 and 14001 standards, as well as investing directly in local farms to secure a high-quality milk supply. Production Director Dalius Trumpa says, "In the dairy sector we were the first to demand certain requirements of milk suppliers. But we didn't just ask for a better standard, we also invested a lot in that area throughout Lithuania. When the Soviet system of collective farms was abolished, there were a lot of small farms and we invested to help create larger, stronger farms. This increased our production from 5,000 to 20,000 tons of cheese per year."
Rokiskio Suris currently exports 20 million pounds of cheese yearly to the U.S. and hopes to eventually increase this to 50 million. To achieve this, the company is seeking to create its own U.S. distribution network.