Cross-border trade between Norway and Sweden, which has traditionally seen Norwegians cross the border in search of cheaper prices, declined by 9.1% year-on-year to NOK 1.9 billion (€160 million) in the first quarter of 2023, according to the latest data from Statistics Norway (SSB).
Expenditure on food and groceries amounted to NOK 867 million (€73.2 million), while consumers spent NOK 126 million (€10.6 million) on mineral water and soft drinks.
"Immediately after the travel restrictions were removed last year, cross-border trade, which was almost non-existent during the pandemic, picked up speed quite quickly. So far, however, the level has not risen to what was common before the pandemic," senior adviser Kristin Aasestad at Statistics Norway (SSB) told the industry trade publication dagligvarehandelen.no.
Aasestad added that trade was 52% lower compared to the same period in 2019.
Data also showed that more Swedes come to Norway to shop for food as it is cheaper in Norway than in Sweden and the weakening of the Norwegian krone against the Swedish krone.
Cross-Border Trade
"Just under half of the money we spent on cross-border trade in the first quarter of this year went to food and groceries. It is this product category that we spend by far the most money on," the report quoted Aasestad as saying.
Data also showed that the shopping basket comprised more goods that are subject to high tax in Norway.
Alcohol accounted for 10.1% of the shopping basket, of which 5.1% comprised of wine and spirits and 5% comprised of alcoholic beer.
© 2023 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
