Manufacturing rose by 1.0 per cent in March, show new figures from Statistics Denmark.

“Danish manufacturers are defying global headwinds and dialling up production once again. In recent months, manufacturing companies have reduced their inventories and expect to continue increasing production. We can therefore expect growth to continue in coming months,” says Morten Granzau, Chief Economist at the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI).

Despite growth in March, total manufacturing output fell by 1.8 per cent in Q1. Meanwhile, if the pharmaceutical industry is left out of the equation, manufacturing increased by 0.5 per cent.

“The decline in Q1 is linked to an extraordinarily large order in the pharmaceutical industry at the end of 2018. However, the pharmaceutical industry is the industry with the highest growth over the past year,” says Morten Granzau.

In Q1 of 2019 manufacturing output was 5.1 per cent higher than in Q1 of 2018. German manufacturing in January and February was 1.7 per cent lower than the previous year.

“Throughout the past year Danish manufacturers have outdone companies in Germany, where production rates have fallen. This may be because Danish industry, with its many wind turbines, foods and pharmaceuticals, is less cyclical,” says Morten Granzau.

“Naturally, we’re pleased that companies have not been hit by the same headwinds as the rest of Europe. Meanwhile, weakened international demand may also take a toll on Denmark,” says Morten Granzau.