Norway's news in English
NEWS ANALYSIS: New Agriculture Minister Sylvi Listhaug is a farmer’s daughter who has referred to the country’s highly regulated farming and food industries as a “Norwegian form of communism.” Now she’s in a position to tackle many of the aspects that make food in Norway the most expensive in the world, and the powerful farming […]
Norwegians’ growing hunger for prime cuts of meat has led, after much hesitation, to a cut in the tariffs slapped on imported meat to protect Norwegian farmers. The hesitation arose because local commercial meat freezers are full of lower-grade Norwegian beef, which normally would forbid any imports until it gets consumed, but even the farmers and […]
Oslo’s main airport at Gardermoen (OSL) offers a variety of spots to have a beer or buy some food or snacks, but the prices are the same at them all. The head of Norway’s competition authority has received consumer complaints, and is keen to end the airport’s practice of granting retail rights for all cafés […]
Norwegians are still streaming over the border to Sweden to go shopping, even though they’re not getting much of a currency exchange advantage anymore. New figures show that cross-border trade was up 15 percent last year, compared to 2012. State statistics bureau SSB reported this week that Norwegians spent NOK 13.3 billion during day trips […]
Norges Gruppen, the grocery retailer and wholesaler that dominates the Norwegian market, is considering a legal appeal after being hit this week with a major fine for allegedly violating Norway’s competition laws. The state competition authority (Konkurransetilsynet) claims that Norges Gruppen broke the rules when it took over and started operating 22 of 24 ICA […]
Norway’s state statistics bureau SSB has confirmed that holiday sales were much weaker than analysts had expected. SSB’s figures follow sales reports from various shopping centers and retail organizations that had shown weak growth earlier as well. SSB reported that retail volume was only 0.1 percent higher in December than in November, while revenues of […]
Norwegian consumers have set off an “explosion” in online sales over the past year, and conventional retailers are responding with cries for protection. Norway’s major retail trade association claims its members are threatened by foreign competition from overseas suppliers, for example, which have much lower costs. Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported on Thursday that online sales […]
A weaker currency means Norwegians aren’t saving quite as much money as they did a year ago by driving over the border to shop in Sweden, but the cross-border trade continues to rise. Merchants in Sweden hope it will this year, too. The Nordby Shopping Center south of Svinesund reported another 3 percent increase in […]
Efforts by Norway’s new conservative government to “modernize” the state wine and liquor monopoly (Vinmonopolet), and ease some restrictions on its sales, were met by immediate opposition over the weekend. Not even Vinmonopolet officials, worried about what they see as the “tax-free threat,” think extra sales days will help them maintain control over the wine […]
Two of Norway’s grocery store chains announced on Friday that they were teaming up through a new joint purchasing agreement, in an effort to protect themselves from a similar and highly contested deal hatched by two of their competitors. The Rema 1000 and Coop chains deny, though, that they’re engaging in extortion. The Rema 1000 […]
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