Norwegian sugar tax sends sweet-lovers over border to Sweden

Level 3 l Advanced
1 Warmer
Which of these products do you consider to be the most unhealthy? Tick three products, then compare
your answers.
• fizzy drinks • fatty foods such as sausages
• chocolate • eggs
• sweets • bread
• potato crisps

2 Key words
Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text.

exorbitant revenue emporium booming obese

outmoded confectionery indignant directorate aisle

1. An _____________________ is a passage between the shelves of a supermarket.

2. ___________________________ is a general term for sweet foods such as sweets and chocolates.
3. An ___________________________ price or amount of money is much more than is reasonable.
4. An ___________________________ person is too fat in a way that is bad for their health.
5. A ___________________________ is a part of a government department that deals with a particular area
of activity.
6. Income from taxes is known as ___________________________.
7. An ___________________________ is a shop that sells many different types of things.
8. If a business is ___________________________, it is extremely successful.
9. If someone is ___________________________, they are angry because of an unfair situation or someone’s
unfair behaviour.
10. If something is described as ___________________________, it is no longer useful, suitable or relevant.

3 Find the information

Find the following information in the text as quickly as possible.
1. Which country is more expensive if you want to buy sweets, Norway or Sweden?
2. When was the sugar tax first introduced in Norway?
3. Is sugar consumption in Norway rising or falling?
4. By how much did confectionery sales fall in Norway in 2019?
5. How much did Swedish businesses earn from cross-border trade in 2018?
6. How much is the tax on sugary drinks in Norway?
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NEWS LESSONS / Norwegian sugar tax sends sweet-lovers over border to Sweden / Advanced
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Norwegian sugar tax sends sweet-lovers over border to Sweden
Level 3 l Advanced
Norwegian sugar tax sends
sweet-lovers over border to Sweden
Consumption has fallen to record lows, but
sweet superstores in the neighbouring country
are booming as the levy rises again
Jon Henley
23 November, 2019
1 In the shopping centre north of Charlottenberg
in south-western Sweden, barely four miles from
Norway and less than 90 minutes’ drive from
Oslo, is a sweet superstore. With 3,500 square
metres of floor space – half a football pitch – the
shop contains aisle upon aisle of sugary treats,
more than 4,000 products in all.
2 One of maybe 30 similar confectionery and soft-
drink shops lining the Swedish side of the border
from south to far north, it is, said Matts Idbratt,
operations manager for Gottebiten – which runs
half of them – “the biggest sweet shop in the
world. We think.”
3 Between them, those shops turn over about
SEK2bn (£160m) a year – and they exist solely
because the price tags on the sweets and soft
drinks they sell are, on average, less than half
those in neighbouring Norway. “It’s crazy,”
said Eirik Bergland, a 39-year-old laboratory
technician from the Oslo suburb of Bjerke. With
three children under 12, he made three cross-
border shopping trips in 2019 – although not just
for sweets, he stressed. “A lot of products are
cheaper in Sweden than in Norway,” Bergland
said. “Alcohol, tobacco, plenty of stuff. Cross-
border shopping has happened for decades. But
sweets and soft drinks are a lot cheaper. A whole,
whole lot cheaper.”
4 Matilda Nordholm, 24, who drove to Långflon,
two hours from her home near Lillehammer, for
her most recent sugar fix, spending about £150
– “Not all for me, though” – was critical. “It’s not
right, what these products cost in Norway,” she
said. “It’s not normal, and every year it seems
the price goes up again, and there’s more tax.
People here are more and more unhappy they
have to pay so much for a little bit of pleasure.”
In January, 2018, the levy on chocolate and
confectionery was raised by 83% to 36.92 kroner
(£3.12) per kilo, while sugary drinks – including
“diet” drinks containing artificial sweeteners – are
taxed at about 43p a litre.
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NEWS LESSONS / Norwegian sugar tax sends sweet-lovers over border to Sweden / Advanced
5 Unhappy they may be, but experts say the
exorbitant cost of sweets and sweetened drinks
in Norway may be part of the reason why sugar
consumption in the Scandinavian country has
fallen to a historic low of 24kg per person per
year – down from 43kg in 2000 and by 27% in the
past decade.
6 In Britain, meanwhile, Public Health England says
sugar consumption rose 2.6% between 2015 and
2018, an increase it blamed on people eating
more very sugary products – of which there are
more and more in the shops. Roughly one in six
children and young people are obese in Norway,
compared with one in three in the UK.
7 Linda Granlund, the divisional director of public
health at the Norwegian health directorate
in Oslo, said the country’s sugar tax – first
introduced in 1922 to raise revenue for the state,
rather than improve the health of the nation – was
one of many factors behind the fall.
8 “For several years now, we’ve also had a very
successful voluntary partnership with both
Norwegian and some international food and drink
manufacturers, 98 of them now, who have signed
a letter of intent to improve the diet of Norway’s
population, including a commitment to sugar
reduction,” Granlund said. “That’s helped us cut
the sugar in added-sugar soft drinks by 30%, for
example. We’ve also worked intensively on food
guidelines in schools and preschools, both to
make sure the food children eat there is healthy
and on educational programmes.”
9 Finally, Granlund said, Norwegian authorities
have “communicated continuously, for many
years now and through many channels, about
the need for a healthy diet. As a result, 80%
of Norwegians now say they want to avoid
consuming too much sugar.” The dramatic rise
in the sugar tax on confectionery and sweetened
drinks may well have contributed in the past year,
she added.
10 Not all consumers disapprove. Silje Kristiansen,
47, a school secretary, agreed the rise was
“huge” but said healthy eating – especially for
children – mattered more. “We know sugar is a
killer,” she said. “Anything that helps us cut down
is good.”
11 Across the border, retailers were certainly
smiling. The tax increase had “quite an impact
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Norwegian sugar tax sends sweet-lovers over border to Sweden
Level 3 l Advanced
on our sales”, said Idbratt, whose giant sweet “Politicians must understand that they have gone
emporium is part of a booming cross-border too far,” said the plant manager, Rune Forsberg.
trade that earned Swedish businesses – some
13 The food and drink branch of the Confederation
owned by Norwegian investors – SEK16.6bn
of Norwegian Enterprise is lobbying for the
(£1.3bn) in 2018, 10% more than in 2017. Idbratt
sugar tax to be scrapped entirely, arguing it is
said Gottebiten, founded by three brothers in
outmoded, harmful to Norwegian industry, a boon
1997, had “seen more customers, and existing
for Swedish businesses across the border and –
customers are buying more”. Norwegian
with sugar content and consumption both sharply
shoppers made 9.2m trips across the border in
down – no longer necessary.
2018, according to Statistics Norway.
14 But the health directorate is instead promoting
12 It is not just Norway’s consumers, however,
what it believes would be a more effective
who are unhappy at the ever-increasing cost of
charge levied on the healthiness – or otherwise
having a sweet tooth. Confectionery producers
– of a food or drink product rather than just its
are indignant, too, arguing that they have already
sugar content, which experts argue treats some
done their bit by substantially cutting sugar
relatively healthy products unfairly and allows
content and the higher tax rate represents a
other junk foods through the net.
double punishment. One major manufacturer,
Hval, said in 2019 that the sugar tax increase had © Guardian News and Media 2019
triggered a 27% slump in sales and forced it to First published in The Guardian, 23/11/19
make a third of the staff at one factory redundant.

4 Comprehension check
Choose the best answer according to the text.

1. Why was the sugar tax first introduced in Norway?

a. to improve the health of the nation
b. to persuade confectionery manufacturers to reduce the amount of sugar in their products
c. to raise revenue for the state

2. Why are confectionery retailers on the Swedish side of the border happy?
a. because the Swedish government has reduced the tax on sugary foods and drinks
b. because Norwegian shoppers made 9.2 million trips across the border in 2018
c. because their sales have increased enormously

3. Why does the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise want the sugar tax to be scrapped?
a. because it believes it is no longer necessary
b. because it believes it treats relatively healthy products unfairly
c. because it only benefits the Swedish economy

4. What has been the result of the sugar tax in Norway?

a. People have stopped eating sweets completely.
b. The consumption of sugar in the country has never been lower.
c. People travel to Sweden to eat sweets and drink sugary drinks.
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NEWS LESSONS / Norwegian sugar tax sends sweet-lovers over border to Sweden / Advanced
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 Norwegian sugar tax sends sweet-lovers over border to Sweden
Level 3 l Advanced
5 Find the word
Find the following words and phrases in the text.
1. a two-word phrasal verb meaning make a particular amount of money in a particular period of time (para 3)
2. a noun meaning an amount of a drug or similar product that someone feels they need to consume regularly
(para 4)
3. a noun meaning an amount of money that you have to pay as a tax on a particular product or service (para 4)
4. a two-word phrasal verb meaning reduce an amount of something (para 10)
5. a verb meaning make something happen (para 12)
6. a noun meaning a sudden large reduction in amount (para 12)
7. a verb meaning get rid of something (para 13)
8. a noun meaning something useful that brings great benefits (para 13)

6 Verb phrases
Match the expressions from the text with their meanings.

1. have a sweet tooth a. do what you can to help

2. go too far b. get money through taxes
3. do your bit c. not be dealt with or caught by a system
4. allow something through the net d. enjoy eating sweet food
5. raise revenue e. have an effect or influence on
6. have an impact on f. be too extreme

7 Word-building
Complete the sentences with the correct form of the word in brackets at the end of each sentence.

1. Many experts agree that ___________________________ drinks are bad for you. [SUGAR]
2. Sugar ___________________________ in Norway has fallen to a historic low. [CONSUME]
3. Many food and drink manufacturers have made a ___________________________ to reduce sugar in their
products. [COMMIT]
4. Some Swedish businesses on the border are owned by Norwegian ___________________________.
[INVEST]
5. Some people argue that the sugar tax is ___________________________ to Norwegian industry and only
benefits businesses on the Swedish side of the border. [HARM]
6. Others are arguing for a tax to be levied according to the ___________________________ of a product.
[HEALTHY]

8 Discussion
Discuss the statements.
• Sugary drinks should be banned completely.
• High taxes are the only way to force people to eat and drink healthily.
• What people eat and drink has nothing to do with governments.
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NEWS LESSONS / Norwegian sugar tax sends sweet-lovers over border to Sweden / Advanced
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Norwegian sugar tax sends sweet-lovers over border to Sweden
Level 3 l Advanced
KEY

2 Key words 5 Find the word

1. aisle 1. turn over

2. confectionery 2. fix
3. exorbitant 3. levy
4. obese 4. cut down
5. directorate 5. trigger
6. revenue 6. slump
7. emporium 7. scrap
8. booming 8. boon
9. indignant
10. outmoded
6 Verb phrases

3 Find the information 1. d

2. f
1. Norway 3. a
2. 1922 4. c
3. falling 5. b
4. 27% 6. e
5. SEK 16.6bn (£1.3bn)
6. about 43p a litre
7 Word-building

4 Comprehension check 1. sugary

2. consumption
1. c 3. commitment
2. c 4. investors
3. a 5. harmful
4. b 6. healthiness D •
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