Business competition in Latvia is regulated by the Competition Council (Konkurences padome). The agency is responsible for controlling the competition in Latvian business, enforcing law against those who violate the principles of fair competition, as well as for providing information regarding the topic.

In total, there are 249 745 active companies registered in the Latvian Register of Enterprises (November 2016, source: government-sanctioned Lursoft Business Database), of which the biggest number (76 918) is registered in the capital city of Riga. Other cities with a big number of registered enterprises are Daugavpils (3 492), Liepāja (3 434), Jurmala (3 351) and Jelgava (3 322).

High-competition sectors
Out of all the industries present in Latvia, the top 10 are the most competition-intensive:

Real estate renting and management (>4500 companies)
Accounting, audit and tax consultations (>2300 companies)
Business management and consultations (>2000 companies)
Road transportation and logistics (>1400 companies)
Purchasing and selling real estate (>1380 companies)
Construction works and building (>1380 companies)
Real estate management services (>1200 companies)
Computer programming (>1200 companies)
Advertisement (>1200 companies)
Legal services (>1200 companies)
It is worth noting that the data is provided for the whole country, and regional situation may be different. Besides that, not all the companies operate throughout the country, some specialize in a certain region or a city. If you need a detailed competition research for your business for the purposes of market entry in Latvia, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Advantageous industries
According to the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (Latvijas investīciju un attīstības aģentūra), competition-wise, the most advantageous industries in Latvia are:

Woodworking
Metalworking and mechanical engineering
Transport and storage
Information technology
Green technology
Health care
Life sciences
Food processing
These industries are distinguished by a high level of development thanks to the maximum utilization of resources available in Latvia, whether it is an advantageous geographical placement (transport and storage), skilled and intellectual workforce (information technology) or something else. The majority of these industries is also actively supported by the government, which means that any business is very likely to find funding and potential workforce in the sectors.

It does mean however, that each of these industries is free of competition. Each of the sectors can be divided into smaller business areas, which means that some of them are less crowded with companies, but some are more challenging to enter into. For example, the transport and storage sector is especially competitive in terms of road vehicle transportation.