National Cold Store Depot

Our only other "hard copy" information on the National Cold Store Depot, Valsts Saldētava, is our 1938 phone book of Latvia, where we find numbers listed for the director, director's assistant, and requests for services (placing products into, and removing from, storage):

Valsts saldētava, Exporta ostā.
   Direktors33430
   Direktora palīgs32328
   Produkta pieteikšana un iz-  
      došana31665

An indication of turnover specifically related to butter is found in the Latvijas Kareivis issue of Sunday, May 15, 1932, where leading the "Saimnieciskā dzīve" ("Farm Life") section we find the following1:

Finanču ministrijas saldētavas darbība.

Valsts saldētavā Exportostā atrodas apm. 5000 muciņas sviesta. Katru nedēļu saldētavā ieved apm. 7000—7500 muciņas sviesta. Siltākam laikam iestājoties, vietējie tirgotāji pietekuši gaļas, lašu, nēģu un citu atrbojajošās preču novietošanu saldētavā.      U.

"At the National Cold-Storage Depot there are currently found approx. 5000 kegs [note, in the diminutive] of butter. Every week the depot brings in approx. 7000—7500 kegs of butter. Now that warmer weather has arrived, local merchants have arranged for the warehousing of meat, salmon, lamprey, and other perishable goods."

Ominously, knowing now the war to come in hindsight, directly underneath at center on the same page appears:

Japan celebrates victory.
In the capital city of Japan Tokyo over the past several days there have been grandiose celebrations with a large military parade in which all the armed forces divisions which have returned from the Shanghai front participated. In the photograph: in the foreground, the Japanese emperor and his attendants.

We should mention that under international pressure, and with mediation by the League of Nations, the Japanese agreed to evacuate from Shanghai later that month. But returning to the subject at hand...

We did locate a group photo taken in front of the Valsts Saldētava on several sites2:

Valsts saldētava Eksportostā (celta no 1925. līdz 1927. gadam) fotografēta no vācu tvaikoņa "Regīna". 1939. gada 5. augusts. Grupas portrets. Latvijas Nacionālā bibliotēka. Nodaļa: Baltijas Centrālā bibliotēka. Novietojuma kods: BCB, R0322, 9-43a
The export port National Cold Storage Depot (built from 1925 to 1927) photographed from the German steamship "Regina". August 5, 1939. Group portrait. Original in the collection of the National Library Central Baltic division, location: BCB, R0322, 9-43a

We found another picture specifically pertaining to butter on the Rīgas Universālais termināls site3:

Sviesta iekraušana kuģos no valsts saldētavas Eksportostā, 1930. gadā.
Sviesta un bekona eksporta pieaugums Latvijas Republikas laikā aktualizēja aukstumsaimniecības izvēršanu. Līdz 1920. gadu otrajai pusei ātri bojājošās preces varēja uzglabāt tikai 1902. gadā Andrejostā uzbūvētajā angļu sabiedrībai „Unionā" piederošajā saldētavā. No 1925. līdz 1928. gadam par valsts līdzekļiem eksportostā uzcēla trīsstāvu saldētavu, kura kļuva par galveno ostā.
Loading butter on to ships from the National Cold Storage Depot, Export Port, 1930
Butter and bacon exports during the Latvian Republic era necessitated the deployment of agricultural refrigeration. Until the latter part of 1920, perishable goods could only be stored in Port Andrei, in a cold-store built in 1902 by, and belonging to, the English society "Union." In 1925 to 1928 the export port built a government-funded three-story cold-store, which became the primary such facility in the port.

As in most such circumstances, the actual situation in terms of butter production had been difficult. The price of butter on the world market (with better than 85% of Latvian butter export going to Germany), was not always sufficient to guarantee a good return for farmers4. Circumstances improved after weathering the depression and as farming efficiency increased. By the late 1930's there were 16 shipping routes from the ports of Riga, Ventspils, and Liepaja shipping butter and bacon to the west5.


1Original PDF at http://www.periodika.lv/Repository/LAK/1932/05/15/085-LAK-1932-05-15-001-SINGLE-ORIGNAME_LATVIJASKAREIVIS1932-108-1.PDF
2The picture here is assembled and retouched from two sources, one at "Lost Latvia" (zudusilatvija.lv), http://www.zudusilatvija.lv/objects/object/17156/, and from "Answers You're Looking For" (letonica.lv), http://www.letonika.lv/groups/?id=2439757&g=3&r=
3Original is one of three historical photographs at http://www.ruterminal.lv/index.php?page=alias
4Ekonomists, Friday, June 1, 1928, front page, Lauksaimniecības krize un eksportpremijas. at http://www.periodika.lv/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:LowLevelEntityToSave_LATVIAARCHL&Type=text/html&Locale=latvian-skin-custom&Path=EKO/1928/06/01&ID=Ar00100
5Article on incentives for organic farming, at http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/23574/

"Lettische Butter" was compiled and published by Latvian State Butter Export Control. Associated illustrations have been moved to the end of each transcribed section and do not appear in original page order.
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