Mint of Finland to mint Estonia's euro coins

An offer by Mint of Finland has been chosen as the winner in an international tender arranged by the Bank of Estonia to find the company that will mint the country's euro coins.

Andrus Alber, euro project manager at the Estonian central bank, said the Finnish offer was chosen because of its lowest price.

According to plans, Mint of Finland will conduct all the necessary preparations and test minting by June next year. Minting will start after the council of EU finance ministers has made the final decision about Estonia's qualifying for the eurozone starting from Jan. 1 the following year.

Other tender offers came from The Royal Mint, Muenze Oesterreich, Staatliche Muenzen Baden-Wuerttemberg, and Monnaie de Paris.
The Bank of Estonia sent tender invitations to all the 15 companies in Europe having the license to mint euro coins. Estonia's initial need is estimated to be 100 million units of euro coins.