KNI A/S or Greenland TradeGreenland Home Rule. "About Greenland:
Resources and Industry
". Accessed 30 Apr 2012. ( kl, Kalaallit Niuerfiat, da, Grønlands Handel) is a trading conglomerate in

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...

. It is the successor to the

Royal Greenland Trading Department The Royal Greenland Trading Department ( da, Den Kongelige Grønlandske Handel, KGH) was a Danish state enterprise charged with administering the realm's settlements and trade in Greenland. The company managed the government of Greenland from 177 ...

, which controlled the government of Greenland itself from 1774 to 1908 and possessed a monopoly on Greenlandic trade from 1776 to 1950. Today, the company remains a major component of the Greenlandic economy and remains fully owned by the

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...

.KNI.
Interim Report
. Sept 2011. Accessed 30 Apr 2012. The company is based in

Sisimiut Sisimiut (), formerly known as Holsteinsborg, is the capital and largest city of the Qeqqata municipality, the second-largest city in Greenland, and the largest Arctic city in North America.The term 'city' is loosely used to describe any popula ...

(Holsteinsborg), Greenland's second-largest city, located in mid-western Greenland's Qeqqata Municipality.KNI.
''Ledende medarbejdere''
" ("Executives"). Accessed 30 Apr 2012.

History

The Royal Greenland Trading Department (''Den Kongelige Grønlandske Handel'', KGH) was founded in 1774 as a

Dano-Norwegian Dano-Norwegian ( Danish and no, dansk-norsk) was a koiné/mixed language that evolved among the urban elite in Norwegian cities during the later years of the union between the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway (1536/1537–1814). It is from thi ...

state enterprise charged with administering the Danish settlements and trade in

. In the early 20th century, most of its administrative functions were lost to the

Danish Ministry of the Interior The Ministry of the Interior and Health () is a former Danish ministry that has existed twice in the 21st century by combination of existing ministries. The Ministry of Interior and Health was first created in 2001 under the first government of ...

and the company's monopoly was finally ended in 1950. Following the establishment of the Home Rule Government in 1979, control of KGH was ceded in 1986Dahl, Jens.
Saqqaq: An Inuit Hunting Community in the Modern World
'. Univ. of Toronto Press, 2000. and the company was reorganized as Kalaallit Niuerfiat. This was then reorganized into the KNI conglomerate in 1992.KNI.
''Kort historie om KNI''
Short History of KNI. Accessed 28 Apr 2012. The conglomerate's fishing operations were spun off as Royal Greenland A/S in 1990 and its shipping operations as Royal Arctic Line A/S in 1992. On January 1, 1993, KNI was restructured into a holding company KNI-mik Piginnittut and two subsidiaries, KNI Pisiffik and KNI Pilersuisoq, both including aspects of the parent company's retail division. KNI Pisiffik was based in Greenland's larger towns and was an experiment in running the stores without government subsidy; KNI Pilersuisoq was located in the more distant and less populous towns and was understood to require public underwriting. Pisiffik A/S was then spun off in 2001Pisiffik A/S.
Om os
". Accessed 28 Aug 2010. and the competition between the two chains blossomed into a price war after KNI opened a discount Pilersuisoq in

Aasiaat Aasiaat () or Ausiait, formerly Egedesminde, is a town in the Qeqertalik municipality in western Greenland, located in the heart of Aasiaat Archipelago at the southern end of Disko Bay. With a population of 3,069 as of 2020, it is Greenland's fo ...

in 2008, even though both companies were state-owned at the time (A majority stake in Pisiffik has since been sold to Dagrofa, a Danish food concern). Ilulissat-gas-station

Divisions

Pilersuisoq

Since the initial experiment, KNI has folded Pilersuisoq back in as a division of the parent company. It continues to operate a chain of all-purpose general stores in remote locations under government subsidy (roughly DKK 40m per year) as well as some smaller towns still unserved by Pisiffik or the newer entrant Brugsen. It also operates some Post Greenland and Bank of Greenland offices, manages

duty-free stores A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, wh ...

Kangerlussuaq Kangerlussuaq (; ; da, Søndre Strømfjord), is a settlement in western Greenland in the Qeqqata municipality located at the head of the fjord of the same name. It is Greenland's main air transport hub and the site of Greenland's largest commer ...

and

Narsarsuaq Airport Narsarsuaq Airport ( kl, Mittarfik Narsarsuaq) is an airport located in Narsarsuaq, a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. Along with Kangerlussuaq Airport, it is one of two airports in Greenland capable of serving l ...

s, and services for

Air Greenland Air Greenland A/S (formerly named Grønlandsfly), also known as Greenlandair, is the flag carrier airline of Greenland, owned by the Greenlandic Government. It operates a fleet of 32 aircraft, including 1 airliner used for transatlantic and ch ...

related to helicopter flights to and from the smaller settlements.

Polaroil

Another division is the company's

liquid fuel Liquid fuels are combustible or energy-generating molecules that can be harnessed to create mechanical energy, usually producing kinetic energy; they also must take the shape of their container. It is the fumes of liquid fuels that are flammable ...

distribution network, Polaroil, which employs 70 full-time-equivalent staff and operates 70 stations across Greenland.KNI.
Polaroil
". Accessed 27 Aug 2010. The removal of its headquarters from

Maniitsoq Maniitsoq (), formerly Sukkertoppen, is a town in Maniitsoq Island, western Greenland located in the Qeqqata municipality. With 2,534 inhabitants , it is the sixth-largest town in Greenland. History Archaeological finds indicate that the are ...

to Sisimiut in 2010 provoked protests from the small community already experiencing depopulation.

Subsidiaries

The company wholly owns two subsidiary companies Neqi A/S and KNI Ejendomme A/S and has a strong majority stake (82.5%) in a third Akia Sisimiut A/S.

Neqi

Neqi A/S is another grocery store chain, selling fish and meat along with Greenlandic produce made economical through guaranteed purchasing provided by KNI on behalf of the Greenlandic government.KNI.
Neqi
". Accessed 27 Aug 2010. The principal slaughterhouse is in

Narsaq Narsaq is a town in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. The name ''Narsaq'' is Kalaallisut for "Plain", referring to the shore of Tunulliarfik Fjord where the town is located. History People have lived in the area for thousands o ...

KNI Property

KNI Ejendomme A/S is a wholly owned subsidiary which manages KNI's real estate holdings and investments.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:KNI A S Conglomerate companies of Greenland Companies based in Sisimiut Conglomerate companies established in 1992 Sisimiut Government-owned companies of Greenland 1992 establishments in Greenland