Over the last 3 years, fruit and vegetable imports into Nordic countries have been steadily increasing. Vegetable imports over the past 3 years were valued at €1.74 billion and fruit imports at €2.77 billion; volumes have increased by 8% for vegetables and 5% for fruit, this is according to a recent report published by Eurofresh Distribution.
Sweden and Norway are the top importers for both the fruit and vegetable categories. With Sweden importing 768,832 of fruit for a total value of EUR 1.03 billion and 522,103 tons of fresh vegetables for a total value of EUR 627.37 million in 2015. Norway came in second place that same year with 446,212 tons of vegetables with a value of €548.8 million and 543,311 tons of fresh fruit worth €904.7 million.
What is striking is that the most popular imported vegetables in Sweden are tomatoes (89,135 tons), potatoes (52,846 tons) and carrots (with an import increase of 24%).
”It’s strange to me that imports have increased as well on the back of a push from consumers to buy locally and wanting to know more about growers connected to the food that they buy.”
Norway - €1.45 billion import market
Norway came in second after Sweden as the steady growth in its fresh produce imports reached a peak last year. The most valuable fresh vegetable imports into Norway are tomatoes, worth €107.7 million, followed by cauliflower and cabbages at €54.8 million.Most fresh vegetables in Norway come from Spain. In fruit, Norway is a big importer of citrus (129,628 tons) and apples and pears (111,038 tons). In 2015, 60% of Norway’s apples came from Italy.
In contrast to Sweden, supplied by the Netherlands, Norway imports more from Spain, with a total value of €92.9 million in 2014 and €116.9 million for fresh fruits. Dutch imports reached €74.94 million.
