Norwegians still shop in Sweden

Norwegians spent 583 million kroner more on shopping in Sweden in the first half of this year than in the previous year. That’s almost 13 percent more than in the same period last year, as Norwegians seek relief from prices that are higher than ever at home.

Norway’s National Statistics Office SSB (Statistics Norway) has reported that Norwegians spent 5.1 billion krone in Swedish shopping malls from January to June, many of which are strategically located near border crossings. SSB has calculated that Norway’s 5.5 million inhabitants made a total of around 2.7 million day trips across the border into Sweden in the first six months of the year alone.

Since summer is peak season for border crossings, the numbers are even higher now. SSB reported that Norwegians spent around 600 million kroner in July alone at the popular Nordby Shopping Center. It is located just across the border from Sweden in Svinesund.

“Cross-border trade (so-called border trade “The shopping spree in Sweden usually increases around the holidays and summer vacations, when people have more time for a day trip across the border,” SSB’s Guro Henriksen told state broadcaster NRK. She believes that rainy weather at the beginning of summer, especially in June, may also have contributed to the Swedish shopping sprees.

Rising prices in grocery stores in Norway The desire to travel across the border is also a reason, despite the unusually weak Norwegian krone. Many everyday items, especially alcoholic beverages and tobacco, are still cheaper in Sweden. Norwegians also flock to Swedish pharmacies as well as clothing, shoe and sporting goods stores.

“It’s cheaper here and it’s also nice to just get away,” one shopper, Malin Grimnes, told NRK. Like many other Norwegians who shop in Sweden, she and her friend Amalie Kristiansen said they stock up on supplies there. “The last time I was here, I spent NOK 6,000,” Kristiansen said, while SSB’s statistics show that Norwegian shoppers spent an average of NOK 1,921 in the first six months of the year. That’s slightly less than the NOK 1,968 they spent in the first half of 2023.

A full 42 percent of Norwegian Crown 50 percent of the money flowing into Swedish coffers was spent on food and other groceries, 14 percent on alcoholic beverages and 11 percent on tobacco products. Taxes remain lower in Sweden than in Norway and many Norwegians are also attracted by the wider selection in Sweden’s large grocery stores. Lower food prices remain the biggest attraction: the same bread that costs 49 kroner in Oslo is worth only 25 kroner at Nordby, or a wide selection of fruit and vegetables costs half in Sweden what it does at Norway’s supposedly low-price chains such as KIWI and REMA.

Tax and agricultural policy remains a topic of political debate in Norway, where many suppliers (especially beverage producers, affected by the high sugar tax) claim that they are losing customers to the Swedish shopping centre. It is shocking that the price of a locally grown cucumber in Norway is NOK 24, but in the Eurocash store just across the fjord from Halden it is only SEK 14 for a cucumber grown in Sweden. However, the high sales volume in Swedish border stores such as Eurocash and Maximat, especially for soft drinks, can even push prices down below the level of other Swedish countries. In Stockholm, for example, prices can be higher than in Strömstad.

“The government has increased fees and taxes, and this has contributed to food prices in Norway rising much higher than in our neighbouring country,” complains Hans Andreas Limi, a long-time member of parliament and deputy leader of the conservative Progress Party. “Sweden has also lowered fuel prices. That is why border trade is increasing.”

However, government officials in the Ministry of Finance said it was “too early” to speak of a strong growth in cross-border trade. They also attributed the increase in money spent in Sweden to higher prices in Sweden and defended Norway’s high taxes on alcohol, tobacco and sugar, which are intended to improve public health. Reducing these taxes in Norway, they claim, could lead to higher health costs.

NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund