Business Relations

Bilateral economic relations with Denmark have developed and grown. However, there is still room for development in increasing exports by Estonian companies to Denmark as well as in increasing the share of Danish investments in Estonia.

Trade in goods between Estonia and Denmark from 2012 to the first half of 2018 (mln euro)

  Export Share Import Share Turnover Share
2013 283.2 2.3% 244.5 1.8% 527.7 2.0%
2014 317.4 2.6% 220.9 1.6% 538.3 2.1%
2015 333.6 2.9% 224.7 1.8% 558.3 2.3%
2016 378.1 3.2% 258.6 1.9% 636.7 2.5%
2017 361.0 2.8% 295.0 2.0% 656.0 2.4%
First half of 2018 211.0 3.0% 142.8 1.8% 358.8 2.4%

In bilateral trade in goods, Denmark was the 11th foreign trade partner of Estonia in 2017 with a turnover of 658 million euro, whilst export decreased by 4% and import increased by 14%. Denmark dropped to the 10th place among export destinations as a result of the decrease in export. The export of goods of Estonian origin to Denmark is very high, ca 90%. Denmark climbed to 13th place among the main import partners of Estonia in 2017.

Trade in goods with Denmark increased by ca 5% in the first half of 2018 and Denmark ranked 12th among Estonia’s trade partner. Exports to Denmark increased by 10% (10th among export destinations) and imports from Denmark decreased by 2.5% (15th among import partners).

Timber and wood products are mainly exported to Denmark (ca 41% of exports) and their volumes have increased from 84 million euro (2013) to 150 million euro (2017). Other industrial products (15%) became the second main export article in 2017. The main products that are exported are furniture and accessories, and wooden houses. The third main export article is machines and equipment (8%), the export of which decreased by 34 million euro in 2017. Textile products (7%) and metals and metal products (6%) are also exported to Denmark.

The main imports from Denmark in 2017 were machines and equipment (19%), prepared foodstuffs and beverages (16%), chemical products (11%) and mineral products (10%).

Estonian companies in Denmark deal with the wholesale of (solid) fuels, fish and fish products and grains, also with the production of timber and wooden products, furniture, textile, electronics and special-purpose equipment, financial services and software development.

Direct investments

530 million euro of the direct investments made in Estonia as of 30 June 2018 come from Denmark (annual change +17%). The biggest investments have been made in financing and insurance activities (34% of Danish direct investments), manufacturing industry (27%) and retail and wholesale (12%). Denmark ranked 9th among foreign investors (2.6% of all foreign investments made in Estonia).

Change in position of direct investments

Unit: mln euro
31.12.2013 31.12.2014 31.12.2015 31.12.2016 31.12.2017 30.06.2018
Direct investments in Estonia 16,011.3 17,273.8 17,411.5 18,728.1 19,924.8 20,359.6
Denmark 285.8 506.5 406.0 485.0 481.8 529.7
Direct investments abroad 4,997.6 5,179.2 5,588.2 6,119.0 6,511.9 6,677.9
Denmark 4.8 5.3 43.7 50.7 9.4 9.4

According to the Commercial Register, 219 companies with Danish shareholdings were registered in Estonia as of May 2018.

The volume of the investments made from Estonia to Denmark is more modest, comprising 9.4 million euro (0.1% of all direct investments abroad) as of 30 June 2018. Investments have mainly been made in financing and insurance activities (37% of investments in Denmark) and retail and wholesale (34%).

Tourism

The interest of Danish people in travelling to Estonia has increased. 12 thousand people from Denmark used the services of accommodation establishments in Estonia in 2013 and 2014, but in 2017 the number of Danish tourists who used accommodation in Estonia increased to approximately 16 thousand. In addition to Tallinn, the most popular destinations are Tartu County, Pärnu County and Lääne-Viru County.

According to the mobile positioning data of Eesti Pank, the total number of multi-day visits by Danish residents has also increased from ca 21 thousand in 2014 to 23.7 thousand in 2017.

According to data obtained by the same method, the total number of multi-day visits by Estonian residents to Denmark increased from 33 thousand in 2016 to 36 thousand in 2017.

ICT cooperation

The Estonian and Danish ICT leaders communicate closely at the level of policy and strategies, and learnt good experiences and practices from each other. The European Commission has declared Denmark the most digitally developed country in the EU (The Digital Economy and Society Index 2017 – DESI). Digital welfare, i.e. the extensive digitalisation of health, welfare and education, has been at the centre of the Danish e-state strategy. Estonia’s strengths are in the areas of digitalisation of public services, cyber defence and security. Attention and readiness to develop life via digitalisation are a common feature of Estonia and Denmark.

 Visit Eesti Pank and Statistics Estonia for more information.

Ask Lucie Fallesen a trade adviser of Enterprise Estonia who works at the Estonian Embassy in Copenhagen or  Danish-Estonian Chamber of Commerce operating in Tallinn.

Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication

updated, 19.09.2018