The World Trade Organisation has been reassured by Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus that they will impose a ban on the import and export of seal skins from Greenland and Canada. Read the full story

The recipients of 36,000 parcels from overseas last year had to pay Icelandic Customs more for deciding how much duty and charges to apply to their packages than they did for the actual duty and charges themselves. Read the full story

Iceland has made a reciprocal deal with Russia over the sale of dairy products which paves the way for the export of Icelandic products including skyr, butter and milk powder to the biggest country in the world. Read the full story

The EFTA and Hong Kong have signed a free-trade agreement, which will effectively allow Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland to use Hong Kong as a de-facto home market when exporting to other parts of Asia. Read the full story

The ambassador of China in Oslo has called on Norwegian officials to apologise for handing the Nobel Peace Prize to a Chinese human rights activist last year. Read the full story

Business between Denmark and Russia will take a step forward this year via new energy initiatives. Read the full story

Written by Tom Cleveland, foreign exchange market analyst: While the major foreign exchange event of the past decade would surely be the highly successful introduction of the euro, many may have overlooked the results of the more northern “crown” currencies, those belonging to Scandinavian countries and the Republic of Iceland. Read the full story

A British con man, who is currently located in Iceland, uses the trade in Icelandic stockfish to rip off Nigerian buyers. The Nigerian ambassador to Iceland has brought the case to light on behalf of his countrymen who have been swindled. Read the full story

Chinese authorities intend to make a concerted effort to increase imports from Iceland within the framework of the currency swap agreement the two countries’ central banks signed this summer. This promise came during a meeting between Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao today. Read the full story

This March will see the closure of Blue Movie – the oldest sex shop in the world – due to financial difficulties. Supplying pornographic material since 1964, the Copenhagen store’s closure is not, as expected, because of the dominance of internet competition but rather from encroaching bike lanes. Read the full story