Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1938, Blaðsíða 58

5°
LE NORD
there is a shortage of cereals which has to be made good from
abroad. Finally, industry in the Northern Countries is far from
being sufficiently varied or comprehensive to supply all demands.
One result of the similarity of economic conditions is that
the foreign trade of the Northern Countries not only has many
common features, but that it also to a very large extent has the
same general tendencies: they buy and sell the same kinds of
goods, and they trade principally with the same countries.
The largest group of goods exported from the North, i. e.
wood and products of the wood industry, is common to Finland,
Sweden, and Norway. With regard to the second largest group,
i. e. produce of agriculture and cattle breeding, all the Northern
Countries are exporters of these goods, Denmark being far
ahead of the others. As regards fishery products, all the coun-
tries are exporters, Norway and Iceland absolutely leading in
this respect. Space does not permit a detailed analysis of the
composition of the various other exports — such as e. g. mining,
engineering and ship building. In some respects one country may
be far ahead of the rest — e. g. Denmark in the case of oil cakes
and vegetable oils, or Norway in the chemical industries — while
in many others we find two or more of the Northern Countries
exporting the same kind of goods.
An examination as to the destination of Northern exports
shows that their markets cover the entire globe. There is scarcely
a market of any importance to which Northern goods do not find
their way. The importance of overseas markets has become more
striking during the last few decades, owing partly to the fact
that direct communications by sea have been established by
co-operating Northern Shipping companies. Certain markets,
however, occupy a predominant position, and these markets are
to a great extent common to all the Northern Countries. The
largest part of the export of each — between 75 and 90 per cent.—
goes to European countries, including Great Britain. Among indi-
vidual non-Northern countries Great Britain, Germany, and the
United States are the most important markets for all the Northern
Countries, except Iceland. Great Britain alone absorbs in round
figures the half of exports from Denmark and Finland, and about
one-quarter of those of Sweden and Norway.
As regards imports it must also be noted that the Northern
Countries to a large extent import the same commodities and buy
from the same markets, and that in this respect too Great Bri-