In 2024, production increased by 5.2 percent, according to index figures from Statistics Norway. The growth was driven by increased demand towards the end of the year. Adjusted for prices, 2021 was a peak year for Norwegian furniture production, while production fell in 2022 and 2023. The peak year 2021 took place during Covid, and in 2024 production is still higher than it was in the years before Covid. Measured in value, the share of Norwegian furniture in the domestic market is 31.9 percent in 2024, according to figures from Statistics Norway, says industry manager Egil Sundet, Norsk Industri.
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Exports of furniture and interior products have increased over the past 10 years, although they fell by 2.8 percent in 2024. The USA, Sweden and Denmark are by far the most important export markets. So far in 2025, exports have increased slightly, says Egil Sundet. Exports of lamps etc. rose by 10 percent in 2024, while electrical household appliances and equipment fell sharply.
Imports of furniture products fell for the third year in a row in 2024 by -1.8 percent. The most important importing countries are China, Sweden and Lithuania. Poland and Denmark are also important importing countries. Part of the imports comes from Norwegian brands or Norwegian furniture companies' production in factories in, among others, the Baltic countries. In addition, parts account for 25 percent of the value of the total imports. This is a large share of imports of parts for furniture production. Together, this increases the share of Norwegian furniture in the Norwegian market to be higher than 31.9 percent.
How competitive is Norwegian production?
Statistics from Statistics Norway show that the import share has increased for many years, measured as a share of the market and related to Norwegian production, but this has stopped in recent years.
Similarly, the share of Norwegian production fell for many years until about 10 years ago. Since then, it has been stable, and in recent years has increased somewhat. This indicates that the competitiveness of Norwegian production has been strengthened, and that industry in Norway is today more competitive. Several member companies also confirm that it is no longer cheaper to produce abroad.
At the same time, it is clear that hourly wage costs in Norway are higher than in many other countries, so that for production that does not have a low hourly input in production, it is unlikely to be profitable in Norway.
Nevertheless, the figures for market development indicate that it is not clearly profitable to relocate, perhaps rather the opposite. Norwegian rules for depreciation rates, wealth tax and investment support will therefore have a great impact on the further development of industry in Norway, says industry manager Sundet. -We at Norsk Industri are working hard with politicians to make them see the differences in framework conditions, and to remove the wealth tax on working capital and increase depreciation rates so that it becomes more profitable to invest in Norway.
Furthermore, higher wage growth in Eastern European countries is helping to reduce the gap, and we believe this will continue. As there is a shortage of labour in all countries in Europe, labour is being drawn to high-income countries.
More information:
Norsk Industri
www.norskindustri.no
