registered business companies, of which 1,083 were economically active. Over the last few years, the economic activity of inhabitants and the number of economically active companies in Ventspils has grown. Thus, in 2004 Ventspils had only 890 economically active companies compared to 1,083 in 2009.
For a long time, there was only one dominating sector of activity in Ventspils; the situation has recently changed. Taking into account the city's specific location and its ice-free harbor, the principal sector of activity in Ventspils still is transport & storage (by value added and number of employed), however, its share during the last decade has decreased, while that of productive industry and service sector has significantly increased. At the moment, the city may be considered a multi- economy.
Despite a decrease in the share of transport and communication industry, it is still the dominating sector in Ventspils, represented by such well-known companies as SIA "Ventspils naftas terminals", AS "Ventbunkers", AS "Ventamonjaks serviss", AS "Ventspils Tirdzniecibas osta", AS "Kalija parks", etc. It accounts for a high proportion of employed (22.5% of the total number of employed in Ventspils), as well as a high proportion of collected peoples income tax (hereinafter PIT) – 59% of the total PIT amount.
The second major sector in Ventspils is construction, which employs 13.5% of the total number of economically active inhabitants and accounts for 15.6% of collected PIT.
A rapidly developing sector over the last few years has been the manufacturing industry. According to information provided by CSP, the number of persons employed in manufacturing has risen from 1,500 in 2003 to 2,000 in 2009. The proportion of persons employed in productive industry is about 12% of the total number of employed. At the beginning of 2009, the manufacturing industry employed a total of 1,750 persons: 585 of them were engaged in food and beverage production,
