Ribs, Grocery | Meat producer Fatland fears there may be too little ribs in the shops for Christmas

– If the borders with Sweden are still closed towards Christmas, there could be too little ribs, says Leif Malvin Knutsen, Executive Vice President of the Fatland Group to Nettavisen.

Usually people who live on the Norwegian side of the Swedish border like to buy large quantities of ribs in Sweden, but that could be a problem this year.

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– We must take that uncertainty into account. There will not be enough ribs to cover the need for Christmas if no measures are taken, such as increasing quotas for imports, Knutsen explains.

– How much under-coverage of the need for ribs can we risk?

– When the Swedish store is closed until Christmas, it can easily rain around 1500 tonnes, he says.

Fight for ribs

Every year, large quantities of ribs are sold in the country, for ribs – many Norwegians will have them on the dining table for Christmas. Last year, it became too difficult to obtain enough fresh, Norwegian ribs in relation to demand, so 300 tonnes were imported from abroad, reported NRK.

NTB stated that sales of ribs and other pork before Christmas 2019 meant that at the end of the year there was less pork in the regulatory stocks than in several years. The stock was down to 700 tonnes – the lowest level in almost two years, according to Nortura.

Although we have the opportunity to import ribs to Norway to cover the need, most people want Norwegian ribs. It emerged from a survey Matmerk did last autumn. In a press release, they wrote that 67 percent prefer Norwegian ribs, while only one percent say they prefer imported meat.

When people are so preoccupied with Norwegian ribs, and we saw that the ribs were quickly sold out last year, it can be as Fatland fears; battle for Norwegian meat for Christmas.

The corona crisis has led to closed borders for months, and still not all places in Sweden you can travel to without being quarantined. It therefore puts a big damper on the Harry trade, and if the borders are not opened more towards Christmas, we can hope that enough ribs will be imported for meat-loving Norwegians.

– Would recommend more imports

However, Nortura believes that the quotas for imports are already high enough, and that it will not be a problem for Norwegians to buy ribs for Christmas dinner.

– There will be no shortage of ribs. The industry already has access to large import quotas – both whole pigs and fresh ribs, says Ole Nikolai Skulberg, director of Totalmarked in Nortura.

Skulberg expects the meat industry to make use of the quotas that are already available today, and should it turn out to be too little, they will take action.

– Then we would recommend that it opens up for more imports, he says.

Also read: Swedish trade stopped. Then Norwegians flocked to Norway answer to Nordby

Expect to find a solution

Knutsen also believes that it will be able to resolve itself.

– I reckon that in the private meat industry in collaboration with Totalmarked in Nortura we will find a solution that ensures good access to ribs this year as well. The need will depend on how the status of Swedish trade will be in November and December, Knutsen points out.

He adds that the increased access we need can take place through an EU quota for fresh whole pigs, a WTO quota for whole frozen pigs and an increased volume of EU quota for fresh pork.

– It is fresh side pork that is mainly the solution, he says.

Skulberg in Nortura believes there is no cause for concern.

– No one should fear that there are not enough ribs, he points out.