Denmark’s economy looks to be heading for better times, if the nation’s trillion-kroner export figures are anything to go by.
After several years of stagnancy, Danish exports shot up by 6.4 percent in the first three months of 2015. A stronger US dollar and a weaker Danish kroner and euro has something to do with it.
“Danish pharmaceutical companies sold for 6.79 billion kroner in the US alone during this year’s first quarter, which is almost half of the total exports to the US,” Jørgen Clausen, the head economist at pharmaceutical industry advocate organisation Lægemiddelindustriforeningen, told Berlingske newspaper.
“The growth in sales is at 48 percent and covers a larger amount and value due to the rise of the dollar.”
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US passes Norway
The US dollar has increased in value by 23 percent over the past year – a development that has catalysed an unprecedented rise in the sale of Danish goods to the US. The US has now surpassed Norway as Denmark’s third most important export market after Germany and Sweden.
In total, Danish exports to the US rose by 3.6 billion kroner during the first quarter of 2015. Some 2.2 billion kroner of that, about 61 percent, can be attributed to pharmaceutical companies such as Novo Nordisk, LEO Pharma and Lundbeck.
The trade and development minister, Mogens Jensen, called the news “very positive for Denmark’s economy and employment”.
