Over the last year, 2,320 Icelandic horses were exported from Iceland, Vísir reports.
The initial report comes from Business Iceland (Íslandsstofa), who published data showing the increase in demand for the special little Icelandic horses across the world.
In 2019, 1,509 horses left Iceland meaning that there was a 53% increase in exported horses during 2020.
Cute little money makers.
According to Statistics Iceland, the total value of exported Icelandic horses in 2020 was just over 1.5 billion ISK, half a billion more than the previous year.
The last time this many horses were sold to foreign countries was in 1997, when 2,565 horses were exported.
Clever marketing makes the difference.
Exports to the United States increased dramatically, by 176%, and exports to Britain doubled.
Íslandsstofa says that these good statistics can be owed to the purposeful marketing by Horses of Iceland over the past few years.
Most horses went to Germany (974) and the second most went to Sweden (306), followed closely by Denmark (271).
The number of horses that went to Belgium in 2020 (43) tripled that of what was sold in 2019.
“Indication of a change in attitude.”
Íslandsstofa is pleased with the growing demand in the UK, where 31 horses went.
The company told Vísir that “Exporters have long regarded the UK market because of their proximity and close ties to strong markets elsewhere in Europe. The strain has proven to arouse the interest of British horse lovers in the Icelandic horse due to the rich riding traditions of large horses, but this could be an indication of a change in attitude.”
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