The Norwegian butter crisis began in late 2011 with an acute shortage of butter and inflation of its price across markets in Norway. The shortage caused soaring prices, and stores' stocks of butter ran out within minutes of deliveries. [1] According to the Danish tabloid B.T. , Norway was experiencing "smør-panik" ("butter panic") as a result of the butter shortage. [2]
Heavy rains during the summer affected the grazing of cows and reduced milk production during the summer months by about 20 million litres (5.3 million US gallons), which led to increased butter prices. [1] At the same time, demand increased rapidly – a 20 percent increase in sales in October 2011, with a further 30 percent rise in November. [3] An acute shortage resulted in prices soaring. A single 250 g (8.8 oz) pack of imported Lurpak butter cost NOK 300 (€39; £32; $50) by mid-December 2011. [4] For Norwegians, butter forms a staple part of the Christmas diet, [5] and is particularly popular as part of a fat-rich, low-carbohydrate diet. [3]
Shortages persisted as a result of high import tariffs on butter to protect the domestic dairy industry against foreign competition, [6] which meant that 90 percent of the butter on sale in Norway was produced domestically. [7] The dairy industry estimated a deficit of 500 to 1,000 tonnes, [8] while the demand for butter had increased by 30 percent since 2010. [9] Tine, which produced 90 percent of Norwegian butter at the time and was both the largest dairy cooperative in the country and the market regulator, was blamed by dairy farmers for not informing them about higher demand quotas and exporting too much butter despite a looming domestic shortage. [1]
In response to growing criticism, Tine asked the government to reduce tariffs to allow demand to be met with cheaper imports from neighbouring countries. [10] The government responded by cutting the import duty by 80 percent [11] to NOK 4 (€0.51; £0.43; $0.66) per kilogram, from NOK 25 (€3.22; £2.69; $4.18). [12] However, according to a Tine spokesman, the move was unlikely to result in supplies of butter becoming available in large quantities until January 2012. [7] There were calls for the Norwegian state monopoly to be reformed as a result of the butter crisis. The dairy industry's structure was created after the Second World War to keep prices high to protect small farms, but according to critics, it is a de facto monopoly that failed to meet the needs of consumers. [13]
The crisis prompted a variety of responses from individuals and organizations in Norway and neighbouring countries. A Norwegian newspaper sought to attract new subscribers by offering them a half kilogram of butter, while students auctioned butter on the Internet in a bid to raise funds for graduation parties. [14] A number of individuals were apprehended by the authorities for attempting to smuggle butter across the border, [15] while Swedes posted online adverts offering to drive butter to Norwegians at prices of up to NOK 460 (€59; £50; $77) per packet. [16] Danish dairy businessman Karl Christian Lund sought to drum up demand for his own butter by handing out thousands of packs in Kristiansand and Oslo, [1] while Swedish supermarkets offered free butter to Norwegian customers to entice them to do their shopping across the border. [17] On the Swedish side of the southeastern border at the Svinesund, stores reported selling twenty times as much butter as normal, with nine out of ten buyers being Norwegians. [18] A Danish television show broadcast an "emergency appeal" for viewers to send butter, and gathered 4,000 packs to be distributed to Norwegians. [7] [ better source needed ] Danish airports and ferries crossing the straits between the two countries kept a stock of butter in their duty-free stores. [19]
As a result of the butter crisis, Norwegian retailers lost an estimated NOK 43M. [20] The Progress Party has demanded that Tine compensate the retailers for their losses. [20]
The economy of Denmark is a modern high-income and highly developed mixed economy. The economy of Denmark is dominated by the service sector with 80% of all jobs, whereas about 11% of all employees work in manufacturing and 2% in agriculture. The nominal gross national income per capita was the ninth-highest in the world at $68,827 in 2023.
The krone, plural kroner, is the currency of the Kingdom of Norway. It was traditionally known as the Norwegian crown in English; however, this has fallen out of common usage. It is nominally subdivided into 100 øre, although the last coins denominated in øre were withdrawn in 2012.
Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time. There are many forms of rationing, although rationing by price is most prevalent.
A drop in oil production in the wake of the Iranian Revolution led to an energy crisis in 1979. Although the global oil supply only decreased by approximately four percent, the oil markets' reaction raised the price of crude oil drastically over the next 12 months, more than doubling it to $39.50 per barrel ($248/m3). The sudden increase in price was connected with fuel shortages and long lines at gas stations similar to the 1973 oil crisis.
The electricity sector in Norway relies predominantly on hydroelectricity. A significant share of the total electrical production is consumed by national industry.
Jarlsberg is a mild cheese made from cow's milk, with large, regular eyes, originating from Jarlsberg, Norway. It is produced in Norway, as well as in Ireland and the US state of Ohio, licensed from Norwegian dairy producers. It is classified as a Swiss-type cheese.
TINE SA is the largest Norwegian dairy product cooperative consisting of around 15,000 farmers and 5,600 employees. As of 2013, it has a revenue of 20.4 billion Norwegian kroner (NOK). The parent company, TINE SA, is a cooperative society owned by its suppliers, the milk producers who deliver milk to the company. The corporation domestically offers the entire spectrum of dairy products, and in many dairy categories, Tine faces little or no domestic competition. This monopolistic position has led to criticism of Tine when shortages occur. Tine's internationally known products are Jarlsberg cheese, Snøfrisk goat cheese, Heidal cheese, Ridder cheese, and Ski-Queen (brunost). Tine is the most dominant of the thirteen agricultural cooperatives in Norway.
Vinmonopolet, symbolized by Ⓥ and colloquially shortened to Polet, is a government-owned alcoholic beverage retailer and the only company allowed to sell beverages containing an alcohol content higher than 4.75% in Norway.
Briskeby Stadion, previously known as Briskeby gressbane, is an all-seater football stadium located at Briskebyen in Hamar, Norway. It is home to the Norwegian First Division side Hamarkameratene (Ham-Kam) and is owned by Hamar Municipality. The venue has artificial turf, three stands and a capacity for 8,068 spectators. It was used for the 1938 Norwegian Football Cup Final—which saw the venue's record 14,500 spectators—and has also hosted five Norway national under-21 football team matches between 1984 and 2011.
Norske Skog Skogn AS is a pulp mill and paper mill situated in Levanger, Norway, which produces newsprint. Situated on the Fiborgtangen peninsula in Skogn, the mill has three paper machines with a total annual capacity of 600,000 tonnes. Pulp is produced both from virgin fibers at an on-site thermomechanical pulp (TMP) mill and from recycled paper at a deinking (DIP) mill. Part of Norske Skog, it is the sole remaining newsprint mill in Norway.
Denmark was a pioneer in developing commercial wind power during the 1970s, and today a substantial share of the wind turbines around the world are produced by Danish manufacturers such as Vestas—the world's largest wind-turbine manufacturer—along with many component suppliers. Furthermore, Denmark has—as of 2022—the 2nd highest amount in the world of wind power generation capacity installed per capita, behind only neighboring Sweden.
Synnøve Finden is a Norwegian dairy company that produces cheese, butter and juice with farms in Alvdal and Namsos. The company launched its yellow cheese on 21 September 1996 and brown cheese in 1997. The company was listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Synnøve Finden is today the only Norwegian challenger to Tine in the Norwegian cheese market.
Christmas tree production occurs worldwide on Christmas tree farms, in artificial tree factories and from native strands of pine and fir trees. Christmas trees, pine and fir trees purposely grown for use as a Christmas tree, are grown on plantations in many western nations, including Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. In Australia, the industry is relatively new, and nations such as the United States, Germany and Canada are among world leaders in annual production.
World food prices increased dramatically in 2007 and the first and second quarter of 2008, creating a global crisis and causing political and economic instability and social unrest in both poor and developed nations. Although the media spotlight focused on the riots that ensued in the face of high prices, the ongoing crisis of food insecurity had been years in the making. Systemic causes for the worldwide increases in food prices continue to be the subject of debate. After peaking in the second quarter of 2008, prices fell dramatically during the late-2000s recession but increased during late 2009 and 2010, reaching new heights in 2011 and 2012 at a level slightly higher than the level reached in 2008. Over the next years, prices fell, reaching a low in March 2016 with the deflated Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) food price index close to pre-crisis level of 2006.
Nordic electricity market is a common market for electricity in the Nordic countries. It is one of the first free electric-energy markets in Europe and is traded in NASDAQ OMX Commodities Europe and Nord Pool Spot. In 2003, the largest market shares were as follows: Vattenfall 17%, Fortum 14.1%, Statkraft 8.9%, E.on 7.5%, Elsam 5%, Pohjolan Voima 5%. Other producers had 42.5% market share.
By 2008 Christmas tree production in Denmark totalled around 9 million trees and Denmark was one of Europe's largest producers of natural Christmas trees. By far the most popular species grown in Denmark is the sought after Nordmann fir. Between 1999 and 2007 Danish tree production jumped from 6-7 million trees annually to 9-12 million trees annually. In 2009 the Danish Christmas Tree Growers Association (DCTGA) was convicted in a price fixing scheme that resulted in fines for the association and its executives.
In 2017, Norway's immigrant population consisted of 883,751 people, making up 16.8% of the country's total population. Of this number, 724,987 are foreign-born, while 158,764 are Norwegian-born with foreign-born parents. The ten most common countries of origin of immigrants residing in Norway are Poland (97,197), Lithuania (37,638), Sweden (36,315), Somalia (28,696), Germany (24,601), Iraq (22,493), Syria (20,823), Philippines (20,537), Pakistan (19,973) and Eritrea (19,957). The immigrant population comprises people from a total of 221 countries and autonomous regions, but 25% of the immigrants are from one of four migrant groups: Polish, Lithuanians, Swedes and Somalis.
Dairy farming is one of the largest agricultural sectors in Canada. Dairy has a significant presence in all of the provinces and is one of the top two agricultural commodities in seven out of ten provinces.
The butter mountain is a supply surplus of butter produced in the European Union because of government interventionism that began in the 1970s. The size of the surplus changed significantly over time and mostly disappeared by 2017, which led to shortages. Other surpluses were described as beef mountains, milk lakes, wine lakes and grain mountains.
Canada's supply management, abbreviated SM, is a national agricultural policy framework used across the country, which controls the supply of dairy, poultry and eggs through production and import controls and pricing mechanisms. The supply management system was authorized by the 1972 Farm Products Agencies Act, which established the two national agencies that oversee the system. The Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada federal department is responsible for both the Canadian Dairy Commission and its analogue for eggs, chicken and turkey products, the Farm Products Council of Canada. Five national supply management organizations, the SM-5 Organizations — Egg Farmers of Canada (EFC), Turkey Farmers of Canada (TFC), Chicken Farmers of Canada (CFC), the Canadian Hatching Egg Producers (CHEP) and the Ottawa-based Canadian Dairy Commission (CDC), a Crown corporation — in collaboration with provincial and national governing agencies, organizations and committees, administer the supply management system.
| Types of butter |  | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dishes featuring butter |
| ||||||
| Butter paraphernalia | |||||||
| Butter industry |
| ||||||
| Butter in culture | |||||||
| Miscellaneous | |||||||
