• Analysis and Studies
• Greenland: a look at the market

Greenland is the largest island of the world, placed between Iceland and Canada. As many may not know, Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, with Denmark and Faroe Islands, all of them located in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Almost 45.000 years ago the first person set foot there arriving from the North American continent via Canada thanks to the frozen sea, thus beginning the immigration to the land. Through the years, six different immigration waves of Inuit – the inhabitants of Greenland – established in the land, getting to the last population called “Norse”.

Following the disappearance of the Norse population, English and Danish people explored Greenland throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, then from the 17th and 18th centuries it was primarily the European whalers who encountered the Inuits.

Many of the Norse settlers’ ruins are still visible and they represent one of the best ways to attract tourists, contributing to the growth of the economy of the country.

The economy of Greenland

All surrounded by sea, Greenland depends on the fish market. In fact, after a period of decline, starting from 2012 the expansion has been driven by a large quota of shrimps, in addition to the increasing construction sector, mostly in the capital Nuuk.

The main products exported from Greenland are Crustaceans ($480M), non-fillet frozen fish ($467M), processed crustaceans ($214M), fish fillets ($89.4M), and processed fish ($30.5M), exporting mostly to Denmark ($697M), China ($255M), Japan ($75.8M), Germany ($52.2M), and Russia ($51.5M). In 2020, the country exported a total of $1.33B, making it the number 146 exporter in the world.

In the same year, Greenland placed 182 in the total imports chart. Its top imports are refined petroleum ($79.9M), fishing ships ($61.4M), large construction vehicles ($14.6M), cars ($14.2M), and recreational boats ($13.3M), coming mostly from Denmark ($548M), Sweden ($79.4M), Spain ($59.6M), Iceland ($15.6M), and Germany ($13.2M).

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