The five-week long Norwegian transport strike came to an end last week and Arla Foods Norway expects its products to return to supermarket shelves next week.

”Naturally, we have done our best to minimise our losses through rerouting the products to other markets. Our actual losses amount to three to four weeks’ sales,” explains Executive Director Anders Jensen, Arla Foods Norway.

The shortfall in sales of, in particular, feta, has made a major impact. Arla Foods is the market leader in feta in Norway and the strike has wrecked a substantial part of the peak season for feta sales. Besides feta, shredded, sliced and mould cheese are Arla’s main products in the Norwegian market.

The end to the strike was greeted with great relief at Arla Foods’ office in Oslo.
”Although we were very busy during the strike, the situation was very demotivating,” says Anders Jensen. “We’re now busy receiving and expediting orders once again.”

Consumers in Norway have not been entirely without their daily household items because the strike did not affect the Norwegian COOP’s own distribution system. Consequently, produce like vegetables and milk remained available in stores. In general, the striking transport workers did not achieve their intended objectives.