Norwegians cross borders like never before – news Oslo and Viken – Local news, TV and radio

– We have busy days now. There has been a sharp increase after the summer, when the price of groceries went up a lot in Norway, says Göran Lundberg. He is the operations manager at Grensemat AB, which owns Nordby Supermarket in Strömstad. Constantly increasing prices for food, electricity and fuel have caused Norwegians to make pilgrimages across the border to buy food and drink at Swedish prices, says Lundberg. Göran Lundberg in Grensemat AB believes that many Norwegians travel to Sweden to shop in order to save money. Photo: Stein Ove Korneliussen / news Strong increase The increase in cross-border trade in the past year has been as much as 159 per cent, according to figures from Statistics Norway (SSB). In the third quarter, Norwegians spent NOK 3.3 billion on cross-border trade. That is NOK 2 billion more than at the same time last year. At the same time, cross-border trade in August, September and October is half of what it was in 2019. – But cross-border trade was particularly high in 2019, and the level we see now is close to the levels from the years before 2019, says senior advisor Kristin Aasestad at Statistics Norway in a press release. Rollercoaster The past few years have been an economic rollercoaster for the shops on the Swedish side of the national border. Strict corona rules led to a collapse in turnover at the shops that feed on cross-border Norwegians. Employees in border shops were made redundant, and themselves resigned because of the unclear situation. Border crossings throughout the country were closed. And opened. Roy Nilsbakken was one of those who could cross the border from Sweden to Norway without having to go into quarantine in June last year. – Record October Strömstad’s mayor said in 2021 that the strict corona rules led to the deterioration of relations between Swedes and Norwegians. Now it seems that the neighbors have become friends again. At least if you take the turnover at the grocery stores on the Swedish side of the border into account. – We are having the best autumn ever, and we are very happy about that. We have just put behind us a record October, which even beat 2019, says Göran Lundberg.



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