01Key Takeaways
- Norway imported $96.98 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 7.15% from $104.45 billion in 2022.
- Nickel supplied 2.83% of imports ($2.75 billion), the raw-material half of a two-way nickel trade built around a single refinery in Kristiansand, covered from the export side in the companion data for this country.
- Mineral fuels made up 8.47% of imports ($8.22 billion), since Norway's only major refinery covers more than 80% of domestic fuel demand but not all of it, even as the country exports vast quantities of raw gas.
- Machinery topped imports at 13.39% ($12.99 billion), and vehicles added 11.26%, reflecting Norway's near-total reliance on imported cars.
025-Year Trend
| Year | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $86.1B | $81.6B | $99.3B | $104.4B | $97.0B |
03Top Import Markets (2023)
| Rank | Partner | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany | $11.0B | 11.3% |
| 2 | China | $10.8B | 11.2% |
| 3 | Sweden | $10.5B | 10.8% |
| 4 | United States | $7.4B | 7.6% |
| 5 | Netherlands | $4.7B | 4.8% |
| 6 | Denmark | $4.5B | 4.7% |
| 7 | United Kingdom | $4.3B | 4.5% |
| 8 | Poland | $3.5B | 3.6% |
| 9 | Italy | $3.0B | 3.1% |
| 10 | France | $2.7B | 2.8% |
04Top Import Categories (2023)
| Rank | Category | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nuclear Reactors, Boilers, Machinery and Mechanical Appliances; Parts thereof | $13.0B | 13.4% |
| 2 | Vehicles other than Railway or Tramway Rolling-Stock, and parts and accessories thereof | $10.9B | 11.3% |
| 3 | Electrical Machinery and Equipment and parts thereof; Sound Recorders and Reproducers, Television Image and Sound Recorders and Reproducers, and Parts and Accessories of such Articles | $9.3B | 9.6% |
| 4 | Mineral Fuels, Mineral Oils and Products of their Distillation; Bituminous Substances; Mineral Waxes | $8.2B | 8.5% |
| 5 | Articles of Iron or Steel | $4.3B | 4.4% |
| 6 | Optical, Photographic, Cinematographic, Measuring, Checking, Precision, Medical or Surgical Instruments and Apparatus; Parts and Accessories thereof | $3.0B | 3.1% |
| 7 | Plastics and Articles thereof | $2.8B | 2.8% |
| 8 | Furniture; Bedding, Mattresses, Mattress Supports, Cushions and similar Stuffed Furnishings; Lamps and Lighting Fittings, not elsewhere specified or included; Illuminated Signs, Illuminated Name-plates and the like; Prefabricated Buildings | $2.8B | 2.8% |
| 9 | Nickel and Articles thereof | $2.7B | 2.8% |
| 10 | Pharmaceutical Products | $2.6B | 2.7% |
05Trade Partner Map
06Analysis
A Nickel Refinery Explains Norway's Two-Way Nickel Trade
Norway imported $96.98 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 7.15% from $104.45 billion in 2022. Nickel and articles thereof supplied 2.83% of that total, worth $2.75 billion, a category that also appears on Norway's export list, covered in the companion export data for this country. Glencore's Nikkelverk refinery in Kristiansand, Norway, is the largest nickel refinery in the western world, and Glencore operates nickel mines in Canada, Australia and New Caledonia that feed its broader nickel supply chain. Raw nickel-bearing material most plausibly travels from mines like these to Kristiansand for refining, with at least some of the finished product then shipping back out as one of Norway's smaller export categories.
Import and export figures for the same raw material, in other words, often describe two different stages of the same industrial process rather than two unrelated trade flows. A single refinery can show up on both sides of a country's trade ledger at once, importing ore or matte from one set of countries while exporting the finished, refined metal to a completely different set of buyers. Trade statistics classify goods by product category and country. They do not track which company handled the transaction or what stage of processing the material had already reached. A sophisticated industrial operation like a metals refinery can generate flows in both directions under the very same broad heading.
Norway's Only Refinery Can't Cover All of Its Own Fuel Needs
Mineral fuels supplied 8.47% of imports, worth $8.22 billion, a striking figure given Norway's position as one of the world's largest natural gas exporters, covered in more depth in the companion export data for this country. Mongstad, Norway's only major refinery, covers more than 80% of the country's total annual fuel demand. The remaining share, along with specific refined product types the single facility does not produce, has to come from abroad. Even a country that exports enormous volumes of raw energy can still find itself importing finished fuel products. Extracting a resource and refining it into usable form are two entirely different industrial capabilities, and Norway has built world-class strength in the first without fully matching it in the second.
Machinery and Vehicles Top a Broadly Diversified Import List
Machinery and mechanical appliances led every import category at 13.39% of the total, worth $12.99 billion. Vehicles added a further 11.26% ($10.92 billion), reflecting Norway's almost total reliance on imported cars, a market that has shifted heavily toward electric models in recent years as the country pursues aggressive electric vehicle adoption policies. Electrical machinery supplied 9.63% ($9.34 billion), and iron and steel articles contributed 4.38% ($4.25 billion), both feeding construction and the offshore oil and gas industry that anchors so much of Norway's own export economy.
Optical, photographic and measuring instruments added 3.09% ($2.99 billion), and plastics supplied 2.85% ($2.76 billion). Furniture contributed 2.84% ($2.75 billion), and pharmaceutical products closed out the top ten at 2.66% ($2.58 billion), a category Norway's own industry cannot supply at any meaningful scale. None of these smaller categories comes close to the scale of machinery or vehicles, but together they describe a wealthy, consumption-heavy economy that imports a broad mix of manufactured goods rather than concentrating on just one or two products.
Germany supplied 11.32% of imports ($10.98 billion), and China added 11.17% ($10.83 billion). Sweden contributed 10.78% ($10.46 billion), and the USA added 7.58% ($7.35 billion). The Netherlands supplied 4.80% ($4.65 billion), and Denmark added 4.65% ($4.51 billion). The United Kingdom contributed 4.48% ($4.35 billion), and Poland added 3.59% ($3.48 billion). Italy supplied 3.09% ($3.00 billion), and France rounded out the entire top ten at 2.83% ($2.75 billion). Together, Germany, China and Sweden made up 33.27% of total import value. That is a far more evenly spread list than the concentrated one seen on Norway's export side, where a single pair of buyers dominates. Import totals climbed unevenly over the past five years. The total stood at $86.14 billion in 2019, dropped to $81.62 billion in 2020 as the pandemic disrupted global trade, then rose to $99.25 billion in 2021 and $104.45 billion in 2022, before easing back to $96.98 billion in 2023.