Iceland: Facts & Stats

ECONOMY

Industry:

Fish processing is the most important industry. Facilities for freezing, salting, sun-curing, and reducing to oil or fish meal are flexible enough to allow shifting from one process to another in accordance with demand. By-products include fish meal and codliver oil.

Although Iceland's industry is focused on fish processing, the country in the 21st century needs to diversify its economy, as fish stocks are declining. (Nevertheless, fishing accounted for 12% of GDP in 2001 and 40% of total exports.)

The manufacturing of energy-intensive industries, particularly aluminum, are rising. The ISAL aluminum smelter has expanded its capacity, and in 2002, construction of another aluminum smelter was underway. Production exports rose 22% in 2001. Other projects included the construction of a magnesium plant and the enlargement of the ferro alloy plant.

Other industry is small-scale and designed to meet local needs. Chief manufactures include fishing equipment, electric stoves and cookers, paints, clothing, soaps, candles, cosmetics, dairy products, confectionery, and beer. Clothing factories are situated in Reykjavík and Akureyri. Icelandic ammonium nitrate needs are more than met by a fertilizer plant at Gufunes with an annual production capacity of 60,000 tons. A cement factory in Akranes with a capacity of 115,000 tons per year supplies most domestic cement requirements; total production in the mid-1990s amounted to 83,100 tons per year. Production of aluminum rose from 40,000 tons in 1970 to 99,300 tons per year in the same period. A ferro-silicon smelter, which began production in 1979, produced some 66,000 tons per year and a diatomite processing plant produced 25,000 tons.

Agriculture:

About 78% of Iceland is agriculturally unproductive, and only about 1% of the land area is actually used for cultivation. Of this amount, 99% is used to cultivate hay and other fodder crops, with the remaining 1% used for potato and fodder root production. There were about 4,000 full-time farmers in the 1990s, with about 75% living on their own land; some holdings have been in the same family for centuries. In the 19th century and earlier, agriculture was the chief occupation, but by 1930, fewer than 36% of the people devoted their energies to farming, and the proportion has continued to fall.

Hay is the principal crop; other crops are potatoes, turnips, oats, and garden vegetables. In hot-spring areas, vegetables, flowers and even tropical fruits are cultivated for domestic consumption in greenhouses heated with hot water from the springs. Besides hay and other fodder crops, about 9,000 tons of potatoes were produced in 1999. There are agricultural institutions in Borgarfjörur, Hjaltadalur, Hvanneyri, and Reykir; between 15–20% of all farmers have finished an agricultural degree program.

Research & Development:

The Icelandic system of research and development is a multilevel system with a dispersed decision-making structure. It has a number of fully-fledged research institutions, essential funds and a strong force of well-trained scientists, and covers all major fields in science and technology. Icelandic scientists face a challenging task of maintaining the quality and range of research activities. Concentration of research in key areas is important in order to optimise resources. Science and technology have been divided at an institutional level, reflecting a particular historical development and institutional division of labour.

In recent years the boundaries between private and public sectors, between universities and other research institutes, and between applied and basic research have become less strict. Research institutes within the universities which are not directly funded by the government have grown considerably. Many of them are concerned with applied research and services, thereby exposing faculty and students to practical problems and issues raised by industry and governmental institutions alike.

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