The Center Party voted to increase the customs protection of Norwegian food production. The last time they were in government, they introduced a cheese duty of 334 per cent. Now they have again gained a victory that can make food much more expensive, shows the proposal for the state budget for 2024. As of today, those who are going to import vegetables such as turnips and beetroot must pay a fee per kilo of vegetables they buy. Now the government is proposing to change this krone duty to a percentage duty for iceberg lettuce, turnips, beetroot and celery root. The government will consider whether to do the same for other products later, writes the Ministry of Agriculture and Food in a press release. – The tax will increase sharply According to agricultural researcher Ivar Pettersen in Alo Analysis, this percentage duty is between 147 and 230 per cent. – Depending on the import price, the tax will then increase quite sharply, says Pettersen. For the various vegetables, the customs duty can change as follows: Cabbage: from NOK 1.59 per kilo to approximately NOK 20 per kilo. Duty rate: 228 percent. Celery root: from NOK 7.93 per kilo to NOK 35 per kilo. Duty rate: 230 percent. Ice salad: from NOK 10.95 per kilo to NOK 18 per kilo. Duty rate: 147 percent. Beetroot: from NOK 2.56 per kilo to NOK 20 per kilo. Duty rate: 158 percent. This means that the imported vegetables will be more expensive in the shop. How much this will affect the price depends on the Norwegian crops and the outcome of the agricultural settlement. Kohlrabi is still in season when a possible change in customs protection is introduced on 1 January 2024. Agricultural researcher Ivar Pettersen does not think that anyone will notice a particular difference in the price of the Norwegian raw materials before the autumn of next year. Photo: Jan Kenneth Bråten / news – When imports dominate supply in Norway, you can notice these figures quite strongly as I see it, says Pettersen. SV announces a rematch, according to the Nation, and will try to increase customs protection on more food. More expensive greens He gives iceberg lettuce as an example, and says that it will be out of Norwegian season when the change comes into force, which could make the salad more expensive. Such a customs change also makes it possible to raise the price of Norwegian vegetables, says Pettersen. – With a lean crop it can happen. But here there is no automaticity, says Pettersen. He thinks one will first notice this in the autumn of next year. Import protection will therefore affect prices over time, Pettersen believes. – It will not reduce the prices of fruit and vegetables, quite the contrary Fiscal policy spokesperson in Høgre, Tina Bru, says import protection joins the ranks of policies from the government that will make food more expensive. – They reject any easing of import protection that could result in cheaper shopping baskets, and now they propose adding another stone to the burden, says Bru to news. In order to prevent imports, news has asked Agriculture and Food Minister Geir Pollestad why the move is coming now. – The purpose of the change is to strengthen customs protection. More of the vegetable production has switched to being imported, and that is what I want to counteract, says Pollestad. He says that the government’s assessment is that this will have no significance in the short term. The aim is that in the long term Norwegian food products will not be outcompeted by foreign ones. Agriculture and Food Minister Geir Pollestad thinks it is right to change the customs duty on a single Photo: Øystein Otterdal / news – It is not the case that you can set the price of a vegetable, and then the consumer will buy other vegetables. Those who say it will cause a sharp rise in prices are wrong, says Pollestad. When asked about the price of cheese when the cheese duty became a percentage duty, Pollestad replies: – I have no overview of that. What happened and what came out. Negative for diet. Pettersen believes that increasing prices will act as a demotivator to increase the consumption of fruit and vegetables in the Norwegian population. – This is not a step in the right direction of supporting a Norwegian diet in line with the dietary advice, he says. The Norwegian Directorate of Health recommends a varied diet with at least five portions of vegetables, fruit and berries every day. Division director for public health in the Directorate of Health, Linda Granlund, says that in the past they have proposed to cut taxes on foods that are recommended to be eaten more of, such as vegetables. Photo: Thomas Koonce – We know that price and availability are the most important drivers when we shop, says Linda Granlund, division director for public health in the Directorate of Health. Eating fruit, berries and vegetables is associated with a reduced risk of heart and vascular diseases and several common cancers, says the director. – We would have liked to see that we ate more vegetables, says Granlund. The Norwegian Directorate of Health has previously recommended increasing taxes on things you should eat less of, and cutting taxes on things you should eat more of, such as vegetables, fish and seafood. Inadequate Norges Bondelag has fought to increase import protection in Norway. They believe that the government’s proposal is not sufficient, and would like it to apply to more products. – It is absolutely necessary to switch to a percentage tariff, and I think the government should include more goods, says leader of the Norwegian Farmers Association, Bjørn Gimming to news. He says one must be able to rely on the Directorate of Agriculture’s expectation that this will not result in large price impacts for consumers. – I have to be able to rely on that, says Gimming. – It is the grocery store that ultimately set the price in the store. Better customs protection or higher prices for the farmer do not automatically mean higher prices in the shop.
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Proposed tariff change could make vegetables more expensive – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
