Cremation in Lithuania, a predominantly Roman Catholic country, is becoming more acceptable to change-wary Lithuanians. K2 LT, the operator of Lithuania's only crematorium in Kedainiai in central Lithuania said on August 24 it plans to invest up to €2mn into its expansion. The company plans to build an extension over a year and another cremation line to bring its existing capacity to up to 5,000 cremations a year.

"As cremation is gaining popularity in the country and the number of cremations is growing, we see the need for another line. Currently, the two lines can do up to 10,000 cremations a year, and we plan to do over 7,000 this year," Bernardas Vilkelis, the crematorium's manager, said in a statement.

Almost 4,000 cremations were carried out in the first half of this year, up 67% from last year.

The CEO also said although the company does not renounce plans to build a crematorium in one of the major cities in Lithuania, it wants to focus on the expansion of the Kedainiai facility.

K2 LT posed €1.1mn in revenue in January-June, up 58% from last year. It was the group's best result in its history.

Lithuania’s first-ever crematorium in Kedainiai has been operating since 2012. Until then, Lithuanians had to travel to Latvia and Poland for cremation services. Despite the demand for cremations, religious reservations, political hypocrisy and legislative shortcomings were overcome only in 2011.