Mottra

Mottra is a Latvian caviar producer whose documented farm and processing address is Lāmiņas in Katlakalns, Ķekava municipality, near Riga. The operating company is SIA “MOTTRA”, and official export-establishment records document caviar from Siberian sturgeon, Acipenser baerii, and sterlet, Acipenser ruthenus. Its overseas sales businesses must be distinguished from the Latvian producer.

House fact box

• Founded: SIA “MOTTRA” registered on 15 January 2002; first caviar in 2007, according to the company. ^2,4
• Operating company and owners: SIA “MOTTRA”, registration 40003578169; shareholders SIA “VS Holding”, SIA “MONTRA” and SIA “Petrotrade”, checked November 2026. ²
• Headquarters and documented site: Lāmiņas, Katlakalns, Ķekava municipality, Latvia. ^1,10
• Role: Farm, caviar processor and packer; also processes other fish products. ^4,10,12
• Roe sourcing: According to Latvia’s investment agency, Mottra farms sturgeon and processes both homegrown and externally sourced fish. ^4,12
• Documented caviar species and origins: Acipenser baerii and Acipenser ruthenus; Latvian production documented. ¹¹
• CITES registration: According to the CITES register, SIA “Mottra” holds code 0001 and is listed for exporting and processing/repackaging. ¹⁵
• Status checked: According to Firmas.lv, SIA “MOTTRA” has no registered insolvency or liquidation proceedings as of November 2026. ²

Who owns Mottra?

The Latvian producer’s full registered name is Sabiedrība ar ierobežotu atbildību “MOTTRA”, a limited liability company. Its registration number matters because several businesses use Mottra in their names, and their incorporation dates, ownership and status are not interchangeable.

According to Lursoft, the three direct shareholders are: SIA “VS Holding”, 50%; SIA “MONTRA”, 37.50003%; and SIA “Petrotrade”, 12.49997%. Those entries run from 24 March 2017 and were registered on 8 May 2017. This establishes the recorded direct ownership, not a complete account of earlier transactions or the ultimate individuals behind each shareholder.

Firmas.lv describes the producer as active, while Lursoft records no current insolvency or liquidation entry. These are company-status findings checked in November 2026, not an assessment of financial strength.

SIA “MOTTRA CAVIAR”, registration 40103651744, was incorporated on 22 March 2013, and SIA “MOTTRA TRADE HOUSE”, registration 40103902544, on 27 May 2015. Both have the same Lāmiņas registered address. A Latvian newspaper interview in November 2020 described the division of work as production by SIA Mottra and sales by SIA Mottra Trade House; that dated account should not be extended into an unverified current group structure.

The UK records require a further distinction. MOTTRA LTD, company 06707483, remains active, but its control register says Sia Mottra ceased to be a person with significant control on 4 July 2023; Sergei Reviakin is listed as the active controller with at least 75% of shares and voting rights. MOTTRA LONDON CAVIAR HOUSE LIMITED, company 11307785, was a separate entity dissolved on 24 September 2019.

Neither the dissolution of that London company nor the change in the other company’s control proves that the Latvian farm closed or changed owners. The wider guide to caviar houses explains why producer, processor and distributor are different roles.

The farm, water and processing

Mottra’s own contact page places SIA “MOTTRA” at Lāmiņas, Katlakalns, rather than at a London sales address. Latvia’s Food and Veterinary Service has listed a caviar processing plant there under food-establishment approval A031696. A Saudi Food and Drug Authority list updated in June 2024 also names SIA Mottra and records aquaculture caviar from both documented sturgeon species.

The company describes an indoor, closed recirculating system of its own design and says its water comes from a 150 m artesian borehole. It also says caviar is processed and packaged on site.

Recirculation describes how water is managed, not where the fish originally came from or a universal welfare standard. For the engineering rather than this farm’s identity, see recirculating aquaculture systems; for the verified Latvian setting, see Baltic caviar production.

Which species does Mottra use?

Two scientific names have particularly clear documentary support: Acipenser baerii, Siberian sturgeon, and Acipenser ruthenus, sterlet. They appear together in official export-establishment records, while a Mottra product information sheet identifies its Malossol Osetra as Siberian sturgeon. “Osetra” on this product therefore does not mean that its roe comes from Russian sturgeon, Acipenser gueldenstaedtii.

That distinction matters more than a familiar front-label word. For Mottra, read the species declaration before applying expectations formed from another house’s use of Ossetra or Oscietra; trade spellings are not a substitute for the biological name. Malossol means lightly salted, not a species or an independently certified quality grade.

The Latvian Investment and Development Agency’s 2021 company catalogue says its processing facility handles both homegrown and other fish, while identifying sturgeon among the species it farms.

For a connoisseur comparing two Mottra products, request the scientific name, harvest year, whether the eggs were collected after ovulation, any heat treatment, and the ingredient list. Those details establish what is being compared more usefully than a brand-wide tasting description. A product sheet for one preparation should not be read as the specification for every product carrying the name.

What Mottra is known for

Mottra’s published account combines Latvian indoor farming, sterlet alongside Siberian sturgeon, and egg collection described as milking rather than killing the fish. The company dates its first caviar production to 2007. A SeafoodSource report dated 4 August 2011 already described these two species and the non-lethal harvest approach, making this a documented part of its earlier identity rather than a newly introduced claim.

“No-kill” is a description of an intended harvest outcome, not a complete welfare assessment. For a meaningful comparison, ask for the actual collection procedure, handling and anaesthesia protocol, immediate survival, subsequent health and evidence of later reproduction.

Mottra’s published account combines Latvian indoor farming, sterlet alongside Siberian sturgeon, and egg collection described as milking rather than killing the fish.

The same discipline applies to the company’s environmental language. Its claims about sustainability, no antibiotics and water purity should be evaluated against dated records with a stated scope, rather than treated as consequences of farming indoors. A claim about one process also does not establish the environmental footprint of feed, energy, packaging and transport.

Origin, processing and the label

Mottra’s Latvian address is supported by farm and processing documentation, but the label on the particular container remains the place to check the consignment. In the CITES system, the country-of-origin field and the processing or repackaging establishment identify different things. A London business address does not turn Latvian roe into UK-origin roe.

For caviar originating in Latvia, the origin field should identify LV; the documented species correspond to BAE for Acipenser baerii and RUT for Acipenser ruthenus. If caviar is repacked elsewhere, the repacker’s country and plant information are separate from the original country of origin. These fields aid traceability, but are not laboratory proof of the contents.

A historical Latvian authority training presentation names SIA “Mottra” with registration code 0001. According to the current CITES register, Mottra remains listed under code 0001, with exporter and processing/repackaging entries both marked Yes. Do not confuse that wildlife-trade plant code with the food-establishment approval A031696 or the company registration number.

Within the EU, including Latvia, Regulation (EC) No 865/2006, Article 66, governs caviar marking and registration of relevant processing and repackaging plants. Consumer information is a separate matter: Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 prohibits misleading food information, including about identity and origin. Customs classification alone does not decide what a retail label may claim.

In Great Britain, the applicable wildlife marking requirements are set out in assimilated Regulation (EC) No 865/2006, as amended; Northern Ireland applies the EU rules. Food information requirements are separate. In the United States, 50 CFR 23.71 sets wildlife labelling requirements. FDA’s nonbinding CPG Sec. 540.150 recommends unqualified caviar for salted sturgeon roe; other fish names need comparable type size and prominence; added artificial colour needs prominent declaration.

Use the CITES register guide to match an establishment with its legal entity. If the species, origin or operator cannot be reconciled across the label and accompanying information, request clarification before treating the brand name as sufficient provenance.