Sales and suppliers in central Norway are completely out of wood in the midst of a cold wave in progress. Hordaland is also about to run out.
At present, a powerful stream of cold air from Siberia is hitting Norway and Europe, which could give the coldest late winter days in 60 years in Trøndelag, reported Adresseavisen newspaper.
“We are calling, and trying to find out what is going on from the suppliers,primarily through the agreements we have, but the status is that everyone is empty,” said Coop Manager for Midt-Norge (central Norway), Svein Jensen.
Workers to the north, in Trøndelag, confirmed that they are empty too.
Market described as a ‘vacuum cleaner’
So far, Coop have already sold 40% more this season than in the whole of last winter. Last Saturday morning they received new wood at Lade in Trondheim,and the 1,760 40-liter bags were sold out by 12 o’clock on the same day.
“It was almost like a vacuum cleaner, it was gone right away,” said Construction Manager at Coop Obs Lade, Rune Bakken, to the newspaper.
He said that something has changed in recent years, that people buy all the wood in the autumn to a lesser extent, so that they are set up for winter. Instead, they buy when the cold weather arrives.
Bakken also said that there are fewer Norwegian producers, and that it is not as easy to get wood supplies at short notice. The warehouse has received 160 lorry supplies of wood, mainly from the Balkans, this season.
Also lacking in Hordaland
In Hordaland, people seem to need fire the whole time.
“We were left empty for fire before the weekend,” said Anne Heggstad at Plantasjen garden supply store in Åsane in Bergen to Bergens Tidende newspaper (BT).
She said they have received steady deliveries from Eastern Europe.
“But when the cold weather forecasts came, the Bergens population went out looking, and we will not get wood in until noon on Wednesday, “said Heggstad.
In Oslo, Trond Fjørtoft manages wood supplies around the country.
“There have been insane orders from Bergen this past week,” he said.
Fjørtoft operates the ‘Kortreistved’ website, described by BT as a kind of Uber for firewood.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
