Sunshine and warm weather in May led to the biggest harvest of Norwegian plums ever, and farmers initially seemed delighted with both the quantity and quality of their fruit this year. Now they’re complaining bitterly, because the market is flooded and Norwegians aren’t buying enough of them.
One farmer in Hardanger was smiling just a few weeks ago when he told state broadcaster NRK that he’d enjoyed “fantastic blossoming” last spring, and that experiencing such a good plum harvest in August was “very positive.” This week another plum farmer in Nordfjord was glum and even “depressed,” precisely because the season was so good. “The problem is that we aren’t getting orders for all the fruit, and they’re beginning to spoil,” Eyvind Reme told NRK.
The farmers’ own overproduction in Norway’s highly regulated agricultural industry is prompting many to literally dump their plums. One fruit wholesaler confirmed that 40 percent of the plums already in their warehouses “must now unfortunately go straight into the garbage bins.” Another told NRK that it still had 90 tons of unsold plums, at least partly because authorities who hadn’t expected such a large harvest had eased Norway’s protectionist import barriers and also allowed plums from southern Europe into the Norwegian market.
That’s added to what’s on offer at the grocery stores, and Norwegians aren’t buying them all up. Some plums get converted to jam or are used to make liquer, but farmers rely on selling most fresh. There was, however, no talk of dumping prices to boost sales.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
