Denmark to End Mink Farming by August 2029

Denmark will end mink farming by August 2029, after its government dropped plans to seek an exemption from an EU-wide ban on keeping the animals. BBC News reported the decision, which reverses an earlier move to apply for a special arrangement for the country's mink industry.

The EU added mink to its list of invasive species in 2025, a list that prohibits people from keeping the animals. Denmark had initially sought an exemption from that prohibition. The coalition government elected in June 2026 reversed the exemption decision and chose not to proceed with the application.

The Danish mink farming ban is due to take effect on 7 August 2027. A two-year transition period will follow, during which the practice is phased out. The seven remaining mink farms in Denmark must close by 7 August 2029. About 15,000 mink are left in the country.

Nature Minister Christian Rabjerg Madsen said the government had chosen animal welfare in ending mink farming. Brigitte Vind, a Social Democrat member of parliament, said that not applying for a special scheme for mink breeding was the right decision.

Closing the remaining farms was previously estimated to cost around 14 million Danish krone, or about £1.56 million. No final costs have been set, and the amount could be higher.

Denmark was once the largest producer of mink fur in the world. In recent years its output has fallen behind Poland and China, and it is now one of the few European countries still producing mink fur.

The industry's recent history has been shaped by the coronavirus pandemic. Denmark ordered a mass cull of mink after a mutated strain of Covid-19 was found in the animals, killing approximately 15 million of them. The government later admitted it had no legal basis for the culling.

In the following years, the government imposed temporary restrictions on the industry. In November 2020 it proposed banning all mink breeding until 2022, and parliament passed a law banning the keeping of mink for a year. In September 2021, Agriculture Minister Rasmus Prehn announced the breeding ban would be extended until 2023. In September 2022, the agriculture ministry said it would not extend the ban when it expired at the turn of the year, allowing breeding to resume from 2023, at a significantly reduced level.