Business competition in Latvia is regulated by the Competition Council (Konkurences padome). The agency is responsible for controlling competition in the Latvian economy, enforcing laws against those violating the principles of fair competition and providing information on the subject.

A total of 249,745 active companies are registered in the Latvian business register (November 2016, source: state-approved Lursoft Business Database), of which the largest number (76,918) are registered in the capital Riga. Other cities with a large number of registered companies are Daugavpils (3,492), Liepāja (3,434), Jurmala (3,351) and Jelgava (3,322).

Industries with high competition
Of all the industries represented in Latvia, the top 10 are the most competitive:

Real estate rental and management (>4500 companies)
Auditing and tax advice (>2300 companies)
Management and consulting (>2000 companies)
Road transport and logistics (>1400 companies)
Purchase and sale of real estate (>1380 companies)
Construction work and buildings (>1380 companies)
Real estate management services (>1200 companies)
Computer programming (>1200 companies)
Advertising (>1200 companies)
Legal services (>1200 companies)
It is worth noting that the data is provided for the whole country and the regional situation may differ. Also, not all companies operate nationwide, some specialize in a specific region or city. If you need detailed competitor research for your company to enter the Latvian market, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Advantageous Industries
According to the Latvian Investment and Development Agency (Latvijas investīciju un attīstības aģentūra), the most competitively advantageous industries in Latvia are:

woodworking
metal processing and mechanical engineering
Transport and Storage
information technology
green technology
health care
life sciences
food processing
These industries are characterized by a high level of development, thanks to the maximum use of the resources available in Latvia, be it an advantageous geographic location (transport and warehousing), skilled and intellectual workforce (information technology) or something else. The majority of these industries are also actively supported by the government, which means that any company is very likely to find funding opportunities and potential workers in these sectors.

It does mean, however, that each of these industries is non-competitive. Each of the sectors can be broken down into smaller business units, meaning some of them are less crowded with businesses, but others are more difficult to enter. For example, the transportation and warehousing sector is particularly competitive in terms of road vehicle transportation.