With Danish exports to Indonesia very low by comparison to other countries – worth roughly 500 million Danish Kroner a year – Danish companies in general are shrugging off the boycott. By comparison, Danish exports to Saudi Arabia alone are worth 2 billion Danish Kroner and Iran imports goods and services worth 1.5 billion Danish Kroner.
Of the 35 Danish companies which have subsidiaries in Indonesia, none so far are having problems due to the boycott.
One exception is Arla Foods, affected by the boycott in Indonesia, but nowhere near as hard as they were hit in the Middle East.
“We have sales in Indonesia, but not nearly as much as we do in the Middle East. Indonesia isn’t a big market and we haven’t got any local representation there. We of course are following developments closely,” Arla Foods public relations officer Astrid Gade Nielsen said.
Unaffected
Danisco, which exports sugar and sugar products to Indonesian said it has felt no effects from the boycott – yet.
“As things are, it suggests that we at some point are going to see an effect in Indonesia,” Media Relations Manager, Carl Johan Corneliussen, told Ritzau.
Actually Denmark imports twice as much from Indonesia as it exports, and not many Danish companies look to invest in Indonesia.
“It is (potentially) a very turbulent country with a (relatively) unstable government, so it isn’t the first place you look to invest,” explains chief consultant at Danish Industry, Marianne Castenskiold.
Small Market
Scandinavian Tobacco Company through a Dutch subsidiary owns 50 percent of a cigar factory with 800 employees in Indonesia, but according to them, being located in Indonesia is not a problem.
“We are not affected at all, since our products are not sold in Indonesia,” CEO at Scandinavian Tobacco Company, Claus Bagger, says.
At Novo, media officer Mike Rulis says that they ‘so far haven’t been touched by the boycott.’ “But it isn’t something that we will feel from one day to another, as there are a lot of products on their way through our distribution chains.
But losing the Indonesian market until the boycott is over will not be a big loss for Novo.
“It is a small market for us and makes up less than one per mille of our turnover,” Rulis says.
Invisible Exports
At major intrumentation exporter Danfoss the boycott in the Middle East has not been felt and they do not expect that the Indonesian boycott will affect them either. But that is not because they are not present in the market there.
“We sell business to business. Our products are inside other products, so you can’t just remove them from the shelves,“ Danfoss public relations manager Ole Daugbjerg explains.
“On top of that most of the turnover Danfoss has in Asia is from products produced outside Denmark – for instance in China.”
