Today, a final full stop was put on an industry that, for 90 years, has been marked by both growth and scandals.
An industry that started as an experiment in the 1930s and ended up putting Danish fur on the world map. But also an industry whose fate was decided at a press conference in 2020 and, for many, will be remembered for mass graves, weeping mink breeders, and a maligned multi-billion kroner compensation payout.
We paint a picture of the mink industry's ups and downs.
Read also: Final death blow to mink farming in Denmark: 'They've been led up the garden path' (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/endeligt-doedsstoed-til-minkavl-i-danmark-man-har-holdt-dem-nar) The culled minks are skinned, after which the skins are cleaned and dried. (Photo: © Allan Moe, Ritzau Scanpix)
The falling raw material prices and rising unemployment in the 1930s become the starting signal for the Danish mink adventure.
Farmers are desperate to find new sources of income and try fur production as a "mix of necessity and pleasure," says Henning Otte Hansen, senior advisor at the Institute for Food and Resource Economics at the University of Copenhagen, who has followed the mink industry for decades.
And here, the Danish fishing industry also plays an important role.
- We have had access to cheap feed in the form of waste from the fishing industry. So many mink farms were established close to ports, which ensured access to cheap feed, he says.
From here, things move quickly.
It quickly turns out that the Danish climate – with mild winters and not too hot summers – provides perfect conditions for the animals' fur.
By 1960, the number of Danish fur farms was up to 3,000, according to the Danish Fur Breeders' Association.
The early years also included foxes and nutria in Danish fur farming, but from the 1950s onwards, the mink outcompetes the other species.
And interest is high.
- We were relatively quickly among the largest exporters in the entire world. Back in the '70s, we were top three in the world for mink, says Henning Otte Hansen.
Visit to a mink breeder. The cleaned and dried mink skins are inspected. (Photo: © Allan Moe, Ritzau Scanpix)
The first 40 years, Asia is essentially irrelevant to Denmark's mink exports. It is especially Greece and Italy that are the major buyers.
That picture is turned completely upside down at the beginning of the '80s, when Asia's imports of fur skins increase exponentially. The vast majority is ordered from Denmark, says Henning Otte Hansen.
By the late 1980s, global fur production has become too large relative to demand, triggering the first serious crisis for Danish mink farmers.
In the 1990s, many mink farmers leave the industry. In the mid-1990s, demand rises again.
Queen Margrethe dressed in mink fur at her 25-year jubilee as monarch in 1997. (Photo: © Jakob Dall, Nf-Nf/Ritzau Scanpix)
According to Henning Otte Hansen, the mink industry throughout its history has been marked by large fluctuations, as exports are constantly dependent on the global market.
- It is a very unstable market, compared to if you had cows, for example. If you had mink, you had to be prepared to absorb those big fluctuations, he says.
Mink farmer Kjeld Krøll had his mink cages broken open and the minks released in an action arranged by the Animal Liberation Front in the 1990s. Since the minks cannot survive on their own in the wild, Kjeld Krøll had to collect dead minks. (Photo: © Søren Steffen, Nf-Nf/Ritzau Scanpix)
Just as exports begin to flow again in the 1990s, a protest movement against the mink industry begins to take shape in several places around the world. Animal welfare organizations carry out actions and question the practice of raising animals in small cages.
While several European countries take steps towards phasing out the industry, Danish mink farmers go the opposite way.
In 2004, they break out of the Nordic marketing cooperation Saga Furs and unite under the name Kopenhagen Fur. With its own brand, the Danish fur industry aims to strengthen its position on the world market. And it becomes a milestone in the Danish mink adventure, says Henning Otte Hansen.
- The fact that they went from a joint Nordic cooperation to purely having Kopenhagen Fur, where you could say: It's our auction house, sales venue, brand and trademark – that was a decisive development, he says.
From the auction house in Glostrup, Danish furs attract buyers from all over the world and benefit from several European countries pulling out.
Mink auction at Kopenhagen Fur on Sunday, 9 February 2014 in Glostrup. (Photo: © Thomas Lekfeldt, Ritzau Scanpix) In 2013, Kopenhagen Fur had a turnover of 968 million kroner and a profit of 432 million kroner. (Photo: © Soren Bidstrup, Ritzau Scanpix)
After the financial crisis, demand for Danish mink skins rises markedly, not least because Chinese consumers have more money in their pockets.
- In that period, fur shops boomed all over China. They need to fill their stocks, so they buy everything available at the fur markets, says Henning Otte Hansen.
In 2012, the production value reached nearly 10 billion kroner, which is about three times the value of Danish fishing, writes Statistics Denmark (https://www.dst.dk/da/Statistik/udgivelser/bagtal/2020-10-28-fakta-om-minkbranchen-i-Danmark).
In December 2011, TV Avisen (the news) attended an auction at Kopenhagen Fur, where Danish skins were in high demand among the Chinese:
Culled minks buried at Karup Air Base. To prevent the spread of infection from the animals, the animals are encased in layers of lime. (Photo: © Bo Amstrup, Ritzau Scanpix)
After a golden period, some tough years follow for fur production. In 2019, fur farms had a deficit of 0.7 million kroner per farm. In comparison, in 2013, the farms had a profit of about 3.3 million kroner.
In the midst of the downturn, coronavirus infection is detected among mink on a farm in North Jutland.
On November 4, it is decided that Denmark's 15 million mink must be culled because the virus has mutated and spread to humans.
It is decided that the roughly 1,000 mink farmers active in Denmark at the time should receive compensation – not only for the mink that were killed, but also for all the mink they could potentially have sold over the next nine years.
Subsequently, it turns out that there is no legal authority for that instruction, which leads Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to give a faltering apology during a visit to a mink farmer who has wound down his business.
The amount totals nearly 29.5 billion kroner, of which 17 billion is to go directly to the mink farmers. An amount that has been criticized from several quarters (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/erstatning-fiktive-mink-forarger-paa-christiansborg-jeg-synes-det-er-meget-meget) for being far too high given the industry's declining trend.
Read also: Compensation for fictional mink sparks outrage at Christiansborg: 'I think it's very, very wild. It's a huge amount' (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/erstatning-fiktive-mink-forarger-paa-christiansborg-jeg-synes-det-er-meget-meget)
Henning Otte Hansen also calls the compensation "generous."
- It has been some expensive human lives that have been saved that way, he says, referring to the human lives potentially saved by culling the mink.
According to the economist, the Danish mink industry has brought in 280 billion kroner since the 1970s.
Today, it was announced that the government has decided not to apply for the special scheme that could make it possible to continue mink farming in Denmark despite an EU ban.
Thus, a definitive full stop has been put on Danish mink farming.
Read also: Final death blow to mink farming in Denmark: 'They've been led up the garden path' (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/endeligt-doedsstoed-til-minkavl-i-danmark-man-har-holdt-dem-nar)
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