NEWS

“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, 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.