Norway Industry Sectors

 

 

Major Norway industry sectors span the oil and gas sector which constitutes 25% of the country’s GDP, followed by fish farming, fisheries and mineral resources. The country is endowed with abundant natural resources that comprise a bulk of the exports. In fact, In addition, Norway is one of the top three seafood-exporting nations worldwide. Around 95% of production is exported. Norway’s economic activities include shipping as it has the world’s fourth largest fleet.[br]

Norway Industry Sectors: History

Traditional economic activities concentrated around paper and wood processing industry, ship building, furniture production, fisheries and farming.  From the time Norway completed its first industrial processing of raw materials during the 17^th century, the focus of Norwegians have been to utilize natural resources effectively. This includes vast forest tracts that led to the discovery of rich minerals and ores, combined with abundant fisheries along its coast. Norway also had unlimited hydropower resources that enabled Norwegian suppliers to supply cheap energy and compete against other countries by offering lower costs.

Norway’s first industrial production was iron extraction and the milling of lumber and barrel staves. Following this, the paper industry sprang up and so did other traditional industries such as glass production at the start of the 18th century and the tobacco industry which began earlier.

Norwegian Industry Sectors

Norway’s industry sectors can be classified as follows:

 

• Agriculture: Norway’s agricultural sector contributes through economic activities such as food processing, dairy farms, fish farming, farming products such as barley, wheat, and potatoes. Agricultural activities are concentrated mostly around fish farming and seafood export.[br]

• Minerals: Norway has abundant natural resources. It has rich forests, mineral deposits, timber, hydropower, oil and gas. The country is rich in iron ores, zinc, titanium, nickel, lead and copper. 

• Petroleum and oil exports: This is the largest industry in Norway. In fact, as Norway is one of the world’s top oil producing countries, it is expected to surpass Canada and become the world’s second largest natural gas producer. In 2008, the production of petroleum totaled to 2.5 million barrels of crude oil every day. The United Kingdom imports 35% of Norway’s total oil exports.

 

Other countries that import oil from Norway are the Netherlands, France, Germany and Belgium. These five countries constitute about 66% of Norway’s total oil exports industry.