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High Swedish prices put Norwegians off cross-border shopping trips

Norwegians are spending less money cross-border shopping in neighbouring Sweden, the latest figures from Norway's national data agency show. 

Published: 24 February 2023 12:19 CET
Pictured are Norwegian and Swedish flags.
Norwegians are going on less cross-border shopping trips to Sweden. Pictured are the Norwegian and Swedish flags on Svinesund bridge. Photo by Petter Bernsten / AFP

Locals in east Norway have long enjoyed the tradition of heading to Sweden for cheaper goods and a more varied product selection. Last year, they spent an estimated 10.4 billion kroner on cross-border shopping trips, figures from the national data agency Statistics Norway show. 

However, this is still significantly lower than the previous record set in 2019, Statistics Norway reports. 

“When all the travel restrictions were removed on February 12th last year, cross-border trade picked up again, but Norwegians traded less across the border than was usual before the outbreak of the pandemic. Compared to the record year 2019, the trading amount was 35 percent lower in 2022,” Kristin Aasestad from Statistics Norway said of the figures. 

Additionally, the data shows that Norwegians went on fewer trips across the border for shopping in 2022 compared to the record year of 2019. Overall, the number of trips decreased by just over 40 percent between 2019 and 2022. 

One explanation for the decline in Norwegians heading across to neighbouring Sweden to stock up on groceries is a sharp increase in food prices, meaning that Swedish food prices are no longer significantly lower than in Norway. 

According to Statistics Norway’s figures, food and non-alcoholic beverages in Sweden increased in price by 14.2 percent between 2019 and 2022. Meanwhile, the cost of food in Norway increased by 7.2 percent during the same period. Furthermore, the average spend on a shopping trip abroad has increased from 1,690 kroner in 2019 to 1,835 kroner last year. 

“One explanation for why Norwegians spend more money on each shopping trip may be related to the sharp increase in the price of groceries in Sweden and not necessarily that Norwegians put more in the shopping basket,” Aasestad. 

Just under 97 percent of all shopping trips abroad by Norwegians were to Sweden last year, with Strømstad and Charlottenberg being the two most popular destinations with Norwegians.

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FOOD AND DRINK

Why were guests at Sven-Göran Eriksson’s funeral served porridge and ‘molusk’?

Guests at the funeral of Swedish football legend Sven-Göran Eriksson were to be treated to a menu of local Värmland cuisine on Friday: motti and molusk.

Published: 13 September 2024 10:59 CEST
Why were guests at Sven-Göran Eriksson's funeral served porridge and 'molusk'?

Sven-Göran Eriksson, one of Sweden’s most famous football icons, passed away at the end of August, just a few months after he went public with the news that he had terminal pancreatic cancer in January this year.

His funeral was scheduled for 10am on Friday in his hometown, Torsby, in Värmland. Many aspects of the funeral were planned by Eriksson himself, who was famously proud of his roots in Värmland and much-loved in Torsby for his down-to-earth, friendly nature.

Eriksson requested that the funeral be open to the public, so the 600-seater church was expected to be packed with a mix of small-town locals alongside his star-studded guestlist, including former England captain David Beckham and fellow England manager Roy Hodgson.

As the number of people interested in attending far exceeded space in the church, the local town set up a big screen outside where onlookers wishing to pay their respects would be able follow the funeral live.

“I think there will be as many people outside as inside the church,” Christopher Janson from Torsby’s funeral parlor told local newspaper NWT. “He was so folklig [down to earth], remembered people and checked up on his old school classmates. He was definitely a popular figure in town.”

After the ceremony, there was set to be a procession accompanied by Torsby’s local brass band – again, Eriksson’s own request, inspired by the funeral of Italian team Sampdoria’s former president, which Eriksson attended in 1993.

The procession was due to end at Kollsbergs hembygdsgård, where guests were to be treated to local specialties motti and molusk.

But what exactly does that entail?

Luckily for the guests, the molusk has no relation to slimy invertebrates, rather it’s a cake made to the same recipe as a chocolate ball (chokladboll in Swedish) – oats, cocoa powder, butter and sugar – rolled into a log and dipped in chocolate.

Molusk cakes from Wienerkonditoriet in Torsby. Photo: Wienerkonditoriet

“It was Svennis’ request to have molusks and I think it’s because the molusk is a well-known cake from Torsby which has been baked here since the 1950s,” Lisa Nordqvist, from Wienerkonditoriet in Torsby, who supplied the cakes for the funeral reception, told The Local.

“We make the original and everyone who comes from Torsby has heard of it. A lot of people who have visited or have connections to Torsby speak highly of it,” she continued.

Motti, on the other hand, has its roots in Finland, and was brought by Finns to Värmland in the 1600s. It’s a type of porridge made from a special kind of flour called skrädmjöl, which is made from toasted oats.

It’s considered to be Värmland’s national dish, and is made by dumping the flour on top of some sort of liquid, either water or stock, and letting it steam for around ten minutes.

This results in a lumpy, relatively dry porridge which was traditionally eaten with the hands – another word for it is nävgröt, “fist porridge”.

It’s usually served with lingonberry jam and fried fläsk, which is similar to bacon, but slightly thicker, where the lumps of porridge are dipped into the jam and bacon fat.

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