46 BULLETIN 1266, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
EGG INDUSTRY AND COOPERATION. 
CHARACTER AND GROWTH. 
Eggs now form the third side of the triangle of Denmark's im- 
portant agricultural exports. The medium-sized flock of 40 to 150 
hens on the usual Danish farms gives the industry its national im- 
portance. 31 Especially of late years, poultry keeping has won favor 
with the smaller farmers (small-holders) and now constitutes an 
important part of their farm income. 
That the Danish egg export rose from an annual surplus export 
of 365.000 cases of eggs in the early nineties to over 2.020,000 cases 
in 1922 reflects its remarkable development. This industry held its 
own fairly well during the World War and exports were only 
Danish Egg Exports into Great Britain. 
PER CENT OF DANISH EXPORTS 
TO GREAT BRITAIN 
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 
90 
PER CENT DANISH EXPORTS 
IS OF BRITISH IMPORTS 
10 ?0 30 40 50 60 
1900 
' I 
' 02 
*03 
" 04 
1905 
*06 
' 07 
'08 
'09 
191 
' I 
191 
192 
' 2 
2 
' 
Fig. lo. — Great Britain is the principal foreign market for Danish eggs. Denmark's 
share of the British egg imports was approximately 20 per cent in pre-war years. The 
increase in Danish egg exports since the war has swelled Denmark's proportion of 
British egg imports to 55.8 per cent in 1920, 44.9 per cent in 1921, and 42 per cent 
in 1922. Data hased on Danish and British statistics. 
slightly below normal the last year of the war. Since the war, the 
growth of the export trade in eggs has been sensational. In 1920. 
the export value of Danish eggs surpassed that of bacon, ranking 
second to butter, and in 1922 the Danish egg export was 62 per cent 
above the pre-war level of 1913. 
The compelling interest in the Danish egg trade is export for the 
British markets. The importance of Danish eggs in the British egg 
trade is illustrated in Figure 15. In 1922, 1,800,000 cases, or 88.9 
per cent of the Danish egg export, went to Great Britain; this con- 
stituted 42 per cent of the British egg import. Xext to Great 
Britain, Sweden and Norway are the largest users of Danish eggs. 
This unique progress in the Danish egg industry during the last 
"Official Census, Danmark'a Statistic Departement, Copenhagen: 1893 5.9 million 
fowls in Denmark; 1914, 15.1 million fowls In Denmark; 1922, la.i million fowls in 
I N-nm.-irk. 
