French Nuclear Testings and Consumption of French Wine in Denmark

Abstract

In the Spring of 1995 the French military announced a series of nuclear tests to take place at the Muroroa atoll later that year. Despite worldwide protests a nuclear test series of six bombs was carried out from September 1995 to January 1996. In some countries, e.g. Denmark, the public reaction to the test series was quite strong and during the nuclear testing period in the South Pacific many consumers substituted goods from other countries, especially wine, for French goods. This paper analyses the demand for French wine in Denmark with focus on the effects of the nuclear tests on the Danish import of French wine. The effects, if any, may be temporary or more permanent, affecting the consumption of French wine in Denmark in the long run. By the use of monthly data for the Danish import of red wine and white wine, the long‐run trends in these variables are extracted and the analysis of these are in favour of wine import boycott effects of a temporary nature in late 1995 and early 1996 and possibly a minor permanent effect for French red wine on the Danish market.