At the end of November we were highly surprised to read Norway is experiencing a shortage in….butter.
Let’s cut to the chase. The real problem is Tine. Tine is the largest dairy producer in Norway. They control 90% of the butter market in Norway and keep the production in line with the dairy demand. Heavy rainfall past Summer caused poor grazing, add poor quality feed for cattle in the Autumn and the end result was an unusual low milk production. Besides those facts, there is also a higher demand for butter due to a high-fat low-carb diet craze. Other dairy producers are now blaming Tine for waiting too long to ask for tariff reductions, so butter could be imported, and to drop high fees on farmers who have an overproduction on milk used for butter-making.
So far we’ve been lucky to have enough of the yellow spreadable gold in the fridge, but for many others in Norway there is a real war going on. At some places the shelves in the supermarket are empty. The Danish have come to the rescue and recently handed out free butter + started selling butter in the duty-free shops at airports and on board of ferries. A local newspaper posted an ad: subscribe to the newspaper and you’ll receive a free package of butter! A Russian man was detained trying to smuggle 90 kilo of butter over the Swedish-Norwegian border. The authorities then warned everyone not to buy butter from strangers. I am not kidding…
Luckily, the Norwegian government have cut the tariffs imposed on foreign butter to keep it out of the market. We are hoping Norway will debate their protectionist policies aimed at preserving local agriculture and keeping cheaper imports out of Norway.
According to Tine the end of the butter crisis is not in sight yet. In the meantime I’m reading an article in today’s newspaper on how to make your own butter. Another item we could add to our list, realising we’re becoming more Norwegian than we think; prepare ourselves, for any shortage of any kind. If its not beer, it may well be butter!













