Demand for Norwegian lichen takes off abroad

ReinlavReinlav.Photo: Berit Roald / NTB scanpix

A local company producing Norwegian Moss Products has sold 32,000 square meters of reindeer lichen last year. 85 percent of the moss was exported from Rendalen, where it is used for decoration.

According to Norwegian Moss Products increasingly the moss is now being exported to South Korea, Pakistan, China, Italy and the United States where they decorates the walls with it.

Now it is high season for this and the small local business which consists of nine full-time employees must hire seasonal workers rather than letting pensioners and students pick up the slack, as they did in the old days.

they pick the moss in the Eastern Valleys between Rena and Tynset in Hedmark. The company’s general manager, Ola Sverre Moen, is optimistic about the future.

– Our owners want to invest locally, and we continue to Expand. we must be careful, because you never know when the market may plunge, he said to the magazine Frifagbevegelse.

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today

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