According to figures from the Icelandic Farmers Association 1,278 horses have been exported to 18 countries this year. According to the local newspaper Morgunblaðið, most of these were expensive race horses. More horses have been exported than in an average year.
Most of the Icelandic horses are sold to Germany (478 horses), followed by Sweden and Denmark, which imported 219 and 152 Icelandic horses, respectively. Icelandic horses have also been exported to the Faeroe Islands (15 horses), Greenland (10 horses), the US (31 horses) as well as Canada (2 horses) and Luxembourg (1 horse).
Hulda Gústafsdóttir at the company Hestvit, which has exported Icelandic horses since 1989, tells Morgunblaðið that she and others had expected the US to become a major export market for Icelandic horses, but that this has not happened. “But there are some signs, I think, that it’s picking up,” she adds.
Hulda says most horses are bought by individuals using the internet. “Around 1990 we had horse merchants come and buy 30-40 horses at a time. We could barely keep up. But the market was completely different. Then we were serving wholesalers but now the horses are bought online, and people are doing these things on their own.”
At the same time the exports of horse meat has plummeted. As Russia instituted an import ban on food products from Iceland and the European Union, in retaliation for sanctions imposed by the EU, the most important market for Icelandic horse meat dried up. The local news site Vísir.is reports that very few horses are being slaughtered, as the only market for their meat is the domestic market.
There are roughly 70,000 horses in Iceland. Annually some 9,300 horses are slaughtered for meat, and some 1,100-1,300 live horses are exported.
According to figures from the Icelandic Farmers Association 1,278 horses have been exported to 18 countries this year. According to the local newspaper Morgunblaðið, most of these were expensive race horses. More horses have been exported than in an average year.
Most of the Icelandic horses are sold to Germany (478 horses), followed by Sweden and Denmark, which imported 219 and 152 Icelandic horses, respectively. Icelandic horses have also been exported to the Faeroe Islands (15 horses), Greenland (10 horses), the US (31 horses) as well as Canada (2 horses) and Luxembourg (1 horse).
Hulda Gústafsdóttir at the company Hestvit, which has exported Icelandic horses since 1989, tells Morgunblaðið that she and others had expected the US to become a major export market for Icelandic horses, but that this has not happened. “But there are some signs, I think, that it’s picking up,” she adds.
Hulda says most horses are bought by individuals using the internet. “Around 1990 we had horse merchants come and buy 30-40 horses at a time. We could barely keep up. But the market was completely different. Then we were serving wholesalers but now the horses are bought online, and people are doing these things on their own.”
At the same time the exports of horse meat has plummeted. As Russia instituted an import ban on food products from Iceland and the European Union, in retaliation for sanctions imposed by the EU, the most important market for Icelandic horse meat dried up. The local news site Vísir.is reports that very few horses are being slaughtered, as the only market for their meat is the domestic market.
There are roughly 70,000 horses in Iceland. Annually some 9,300 horses are slaughtered for meat, and some 1,100-1,300 live horses are exported.
