Mink farming will finish in Denmark by August 2029 after the authorities determined to drop plans to pursue an exemption to an EU-wide ban on the follow.
Denmark was once the largest producer of mink fur in the world, but the industry has declined due to international bans on fur farming, a decline in the fur commerce and an earlier outbreak of a Covid pressure in the nation’s mink population.
The ban is due to come into impact on 7 August next yr, and is adopted by a two-year transition period to part out the follow.
Danish Nature Minister Christian Rabjerg Madsen said the authorities had chosen animal welfare.
“A business should not continue just because it has existed for a long time. It should also make sense for society, for the economy and for the animals,” he said.
The Danish authorities had initially sought an exemption for its mink industry when the EU added the mammal to its checklist of invasive species in 2025, prohibiting people from protecting them.
However, the present coalition authorities, elected in June 2026, reversed this determination and determined not to proceed with the software on Friday.
Social Democrat MP Brigitte Vind said it was “a good day for animal welfare”.
“It is absolutely the right decision not to apply for a special scheme for mink breeding in Denmark,” she said.
The Danish Mink Association, which represents breeders, has been approached for remark.
Denmark is one of the few European international locations to still produce mink fur, one of the more common pelts used in making fur clothes.
However, its manufacturing has slipped behind that of other international locations, such as Poland and China, in current years.
The industry confronted a disaster during the coronavirus pandemic, when the authorities ordered a mass cull of mink after a mutated pressure of Covid-19 was discovered in the animals. Approximately 15 million were killed.
At the time, the nation had large export markets to China and Hong Kong. The authorities later admitted it had no legal foundation for the culling.
There are now roughly 15,000 mink left in Denmark.
No prices have yet been decided for closing Denmark’s seven remaining mink farms, but an animal welfare spokesperson for one of the governing coalition events beforehand estimated it would be around 14m Danish krone (£1.56m), native media report, but the closing quantity could be greater.
The carrying of fur is a controversial subject within fashion circles, with publications and fashion manufacturers selecting not to use or promote it several years in the past.
But it re-entered the highlight last yr, with celebrities and fashionistas carrying both classic and so-called fake fur.
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