Where Estonia's market is in few hands: in beverages, mobile and security services the top five account for 86–89% of revenue

Which industries in Estonia are in the hands of two or three big companies, and where is the market fragmented among hundreds of small ones? entity.ee used the annual reports filed with the business register to calculate, for each industry, the share of revenue that the five largest companies account for (CR5) and how many companies it takes to cover half of the revenue. We looked at industries at the level of the two-digit EMTAK code (division), 2025 reports and companies at the level of the legal entity. Because Estonia's market is small, concentration is natural in many industries. The aim of the calculation below is not to assess competition but to show where concentration is highest.

Beverage manufacturing is the most concentrated: the five largest companies account for 89 percent of the division's revenue, of which A. Le Coq has 38 and Saku Õlletehase 29 percent, with Anora Estonia third at 13 percent. In telecommunications the share of the top five is 87 percent: Telia Eesti accounts for 44, Elisa Eesti for 27 and Tele2 Eesti for 11 percent. In security and investigation activities it is 86 percent (G4S Eesti 42, Forus Security 25, Viking Security 14). Under the European Commission's merger guidelines a market is considered highly concentrated when the Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI, the sum of squared shares) is above 2,000; in telecommunications it is 2,846, in security services 2,610 and in beverage manufacturing 2,452. In all three divisions only two companies are needed to cover half of the revenue.

Next come electronics and optical equipment manufacturing (78 percent; Ericsson Eesti 29, Foxway 18 and GPV Estonia 13 percent), postal and courier activities (76 percent) and chemicals manufacturing (68). In postal and courier activities the three largest are almost equal: DPD Eesti 23, SmartPosti 22 and DHL Express Estonia 21 percent of the division's revenue. In electricity and gas the five largest account for 58 percent of revenue, but the biggest companies there (Eesti Energia, Elektrilevi, Elering) are of equal size, each about 14–15 percent, so the HHI is low at 832.

The programming and IT consulting division at first glance also looks very concentrated: the five largest account for 61 percent, against 26 percent in 2019. The reason is Bolt. Bolt Technology OÜ and Bolt Operations OÜ are both registered under activity 62.90 (other information technology service activities), so their revenue, 3.7 billion euros in total, is counted under the IT sector. That is 58 percent of the division's total revenue of 6.5 billion euros (13 percent in 2019). Leaving out the Bolt entities, the five largest IT companies account for only 11 percent of revenue (2019: 17), because more than 9,400 companies operate in the division.

The most fragmented are construction and installation work (the top five's share is 4 percent), management consulting and head offices (6), architecture and engineering (6), personal services (8) and real estate (10). In construction of buildings the top five's share is also only 11 percent, in food service 14 and in wholesale 13. Retail trade (division 47) stands out with a higher figure, 29 percent: Selver, Maxima Eesti, Olerex and Rimi Eesti each have revenue of about half a billion euros, but the division has over 9,900 companies. Retail chains often operate through several legal entities and consumer cooperatives as separate cooperatives, so this calculation does not fully show chain-level concentration.

Over six years concentration has increased in telecommunications (the top five's share from 84 to 87 percent) and security services (from 80 to 86), but decreased in electronics manufacturing (from 86 to 78) and chemicals manufacturing (from 75 to 68). In beverage manufacturing it has stayed almost the same (from 91 to 89) and in postal and courier activities the same (76 percent). For telecommunications, security services, electronics and chemicals the direction is the same when consolidated group reports or consumer cooperatives are also taken into account. In postal and courier activities the result depends on this: with consolidated reports the figure would have fallen from 90 to 85.

Concentration does not in itself mean there is no competition. An industry is defined within an EMTAK division, but the real market may be narrower (for example, beer and mineral water are not the same market) or wider (international competition, imports, internet services). A large share of revenue held by one company may also stem from production scale rather than market power. The analysis does not compare prices or market share from the consumer's point of view.

Limitations: the analysis is at the level of legal entities, not groups, and includes only non-consolidated reports of private limited companies, public limited companies, limited partnerships and general partnerships with positive revenue. The public sector and non-profit associations are not included. Revenue includes intra-group transactions. Not all 2025 reports have been filed yet (about 92 percent of the 2024 volume), so the numbers may change when larger companies file their reports. The industry is the one the company stated in its report, and some companies' activities do not match it exactly.