Over half the strawberries on the Norwegian market are not grown in Norway. Last year the Norwegian growers were worth 48% of all sold strawberries. Nowadays strawberries are available all year round, but for the Norwegian growers the season usually only lasts from June to September, according to figures from the SSB (Norwegian Central Bureau for Statistics). This is why there is primarily imported goods on the shelves in the winter and the spring. On the other hand, Norwegians are prepared to pay more for Norwegian strawberries than for imported ones.
In 2017 8,500 tonnes of strawberries were grown by Norwegian companies, worth a turnover of almost 46 million Euro. In the same year 9,650 tonnes of fresh strawberries were imported, which represented a value of 45 million Euro. The Norwegian strawberry cultivation is dependent on weather conditions and the plants are sensitive to pests and fungus, which became apparent when grey mould in Agder-fylkene and Rogaland which affected a large portion of the strawberry harvest.
Besides fresh strawberries, the Norwegians export frozen strawberries of strawberries conserved in another manner. Last year 5600 tonnes of strawberries were exported, worth 10 million. In 2017 the import of fresh strawberries came from twenty countries, of which three made up 92 percent of the total of imported strawberries: the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain with 45, 25 and 22 percent respectively. Most strawberries end up with the consumers, through direct sales, the supermarket or another kind of retail trade. The food industry also buys a part.
Source: www.abcnyheter.no