Abies lasiocarpa

Norwegians will buy a record number of Christmas trees this year. It is no longer enough to have one Christmas tree for each family. There should be one in the garden and one for each nursery. The forecast is that more than two million Christmas trees will be sold, even though the price is as high as NOK 500 (circa 60 €).

Norwegians have so much money that more and more families buy as much as three or four Christmas trees. Mr Steinar Haugse, Managing Director of the Norwegian Christmas Tree Producer's Organization, says that one Christmas tree in the living room is not enough. Norwegians also buy one for their garden and one for each nursery.
Even though Norwegian domestic production increases each year, Norway is still dependent on imports of Danish Christmas trees. Norway will import around 500 000 trees from its southern neighbour. Half a million trees will be cut in Norwegian forests, either by the forest owner himself, or by someone else with the forest owner's permission.
Norwegian Christmas tree producers have also started small scale exports, for example to the Baltic states and the UK. These exports are expected to increase in the future, in particular when the cultivation of the popular balsam fir (Abies lasiocarpa) gets off the ground. This species originates in the Rocky Mountains, but it is perfect for Norwegian conditions because of its short growth period.
Mr Haugse says that there is great demand in Europe for narrow Christmas trees and the balsam fir is the narrowest of all fir species. He expects that in a few years Norwegian Christmas tree producers will be able to export several million balsam firs to the European market.