Import duties for agricultural products

Import duties to protect domestic agricultural production is an important instrument in the Norwegian agricultural policy. Most agricultural commodities produced in Norway are protected. At the same time, more than 80 % of agricultural imports enters duty free. For products such as sugar, rice, fruit and vegetables outside the Norwegian season, there is no import duty. All developing countries have reduced tariffs on exports of agricultural products to Norway. The 52 poorest countries in the world have duty free access.

Import Protection 

In 2018, Norway imported agricultural products at 66,5  billion NOK. 64 percent of imports are from the EU, 23 percent from developing countries and 13 percent from other developed countries.

Slightly simplified, the Norwegian import protection for agricultural commodities may be divided into three groups of products with high, medium and no tariff protection:

High tariff

Medium tariff

Low/no tariff

Meat

Chocolate

Beer/soda

Milk

Confectionery

Sugar, coffee, tea

Cheese

Pizza

Rice, corn

Cereals 
Eggs                               

Potatoes

Bananas

 

Fruit and vegetables

Oranges

 

 

Dog and cat food

 

 

A number of plants and plant parts

Imports of goods with high tariffs are limited. However, import quotas with low or no tariffs on such products are granted through trade agreements (WTO, EEA and EFTA trade agreements). 

The group with moderate tariffs includes e.g processed agricultural products.

The group with  no tariffs mainly includes products that are not produced in Norway.

The Norwegian Agricultural Agency is responsible for managing the import protection. By administrative decision they can lower the tariffs to increase import in response to Norwegian market demand.