Norways runs out of butter

Cardinal Richelieu

Norweigans have started to travel across the border to Sweden to panic buy butter. I wonder will the diet fad catch on in the rest of Europe:D

OSLO (Reuters) - The soaring popularity of a fat-rich fad diet has depleted stocks of butter in Norway creating a looming Christmas culinary crisis.
Norwegians have eaten up the country's entire stockpile of butter, partly as the result of a "low-carb" diet sweeping the Nordic nation which emphasizes a higher intake of fats.
"Sales all of a sudden just soared, 20 percent in October then 30 percent in November," said Lars Galtung, the head of communications at TINE, the country's biggest farmer-owned cooperative.
A wet summer which reduced the quality of animal feed and cut milk output by 25 million litres had already limited supplies and the shortage has led some pundits to suggest the world's eighth-largest oil exporter offer some of its plentiful fuel supply in exchange for butter.
"Norwegians are not afraid of natural fats, they love their butter and cream," Galtung told Reuters.
Butter is now selling on Norway's top auction website, with a 250-gram piece starting at around $13 (8.28 pounds), roughly four times its normal price.
Just weeks before Norwegians will be expecting to eat plenty of buttery traditional biscuits and other homemade Christmas treats made with love and the liberal inclusion of dairy products, residents of the world's second-richest per-capita country can't even hope for help from a friendly neighbour who is rolling in butter.
Top dairy producer Denmark lies just across a narrow sea channel, but its stores of creamy butter will be kept out of the country by the high import duties of Norway, the only Nordic nation that does not belong to the European Union.
Still, the problem has certainly provided the Danes with a good laugh over their richly buttered breakfast toast.
Morning TV show Go' Morgen Danmark amid much hilarity offered a paltry 1,000 packets of butter on Wednesday to help ease the pain.

Ellis Dee

The same thing has happened in Finland for the same reason, or so my wife tells me. She tried to get butter in several shops yesterday, but could only find a variety of spreads that contain some butter. The low-carbohydrate diet, which is called karppaus in Finnish, has caught on so fast - despite media reports of unpleasant and even tragic consequences in some cases - that the butter producers have not been able to keep up and supply bottlenecks have developed.:)

I suppose, like all other fads, it will pass.:rolleyes:

corazon

Same thing happened in Sweden about two months ago,

Sweden bravely endures national butter shortage


For the past month, Swedish supermarkets have struggled to stock enough butter to meet customer demand, the Guardian reports. This past week, the butter supply decreased to unusual lows, the Swedish Dairy Association said.
The reason? Supply and demand are out of whack.
"Over the last 20 years we have seen a 15 percent drop in milk production in Sweden," Lennart Holmström, an analyst at the Swedish Dairy Association, told the Guardian. "There are too few young people going into dairy farming these days, and there has been too little investment in existing farms."

6600

Ellis Dee wrote: »

The same thing has happened in Finland for the same reason, or so my wife tells me. She tried to get butter in several shops yesterday, but could only find a variety of spreads that contain some butter. The low-carbohydrate diet, which is called karppaus in Finnish, has caught on so fast - despite media reports of unpleasant and even tragic consequences in some cases - that the butter producers have not been able to keep up and supply bottlenecks have developed.:)

I suppose, like all other fads, it will pass.:rolleyes:

What has you in Finland Ellis Dee? Sounds like there may be an interesting story there.

aujopimur

Shhhh don't tell them about the €1 a pound butter in Centra.

WIZE

Can Ireland not cash in on this and send loads or Kerry Gold over

Cardinal Richelieu

WIZE wrote: »

Can Ireland not cash in on this and send loads or Kerry Gold over

Large Import duties on butter in Norway so the article says but maybe someone could fill a trawler with Kerry Gold and find an isolated fjiord:D

Kovu

Ellis Dee wrote: »

The same thing has happened in Finland for the same reason, or so my wife tells me. She tried to get butter in several shops yesterday, but could only find a variety of spreads that contain some butter. The low-carbohydrate diet, which is called karppaus in Finnish, has caught on so fast - despite media reports of unpleasant and even tragic consequences in some cases - that the butter producers have not been able to keep up and supply bottlenecks have developed.:)

I suppose, like all other fads, it will pass.:rolleyes:

My brother is currently doing a masters in Tampere, some foods are shocking prices even compared to here. Better send back the butter with him at Christmas!

5live

The shortages in scandanavian countries was caused by a shortage of butter for export from Denmark where people were stocking up in october before a new fat tax was introduced in Denmark. This sucked in most of the export supplies and caused a temporary shortage in the normal export destinations but it will be back to normal by new year

Norwayviking

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

Norweigans have started to travel across the border to Sweden to panic buy butter. I wonder will the diet fad catch on in the rest of Europe:D

This is how you do it:D:D:D

sheesh

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

Large Import duties on butter in Norway so the article says but maybe someone could fill a trawler with Kerry Gold and find an isolated fjiord:D

ah yes butter smuggling.