Danmarks Handel og Industri

XXV fertilizers, which are utilized as raw material in the agricultural industrial production (value in 1913: 160 mill. Kr.). Next come raw materials and auxiliary materials for industries (value in 1913: 166 mill. Kr.) including both the actual raw materials for the textile industry and metals, chemical- technical articles etc., etc., as also the so-called »semi-manufactured articles«, especially coarse articles of metal, such as iron beams, all kinds of metal bars, bolts and plates together with tubes and wire, bar iron, iron hoops and shaped iron, rails, cables, chains, nails; furthermore hemp-yarn, twine, bamboo, rattan, wickers etc. And finally must be added, the import of fuel and lighting stulls (value in 1913: 81 mill. Kr.). The other half of the imports comprises a long series of merchandise for consumption (value in 1913: 149 mill. Kr.) — especially all kinds of colonial goods, fruits and wine — and finished articles (industrial articles) of metal, silk, textile etc. (value in 1913: 212 mill. Kr.). A great many of the above articles will actually compete against corresponding goods of home production, and this will be the case in an increasing degree, as Danish industry gradually enters upon new fields, a movement which is supported through the systematic endeavours of later years to further »Danish Production« in the competition with corresponding productions of foreign make. As is shown in the foregoing summary, the value of Denmark’s actual turnover with foreign countries —. i. e. the export of Danish merchandise and the import of foreign merchandise for consumption — comprised something more than 1.4 milliard Kr. in all in 1913. But besides these commercial transactions, a rather important transit trade is carried on, owing to the convenient position of the country and especially of Copenhagen, the value of which, before the War, was estimated at something like 250 mill. Kr., and which has the best possible qualifications for a continued development on a large scale. The Free Port of Copenhagen is the actual basis of this transit trade, and this port, being situated at the very entrance to the Baltic, has gradually resolved itself into an important port of call for big overseas liners and trampsteamers, and is, by means of a network of lines, in constant and regular connection with the ports situated on the coasts of the Baltic. Even before the Great War, a considerable amount of merchandise was forwarded via Copenhagen Eastwards, especially to Sweden and Russia. Transit Trade.