Finding Norwegian Business Partners from Germany

A close partner, but not an EU market

For German companies, Norway often feels familiar: a wealthy, well-organised market with high standards and a strong industrial base. It is also one of Germany's closest trading relationships. According to Statistics Norway, Norway imported goods worth NOK 131 billion from Germany in 2025, compared with NOK 111 billion from Sweden. In the other direction, Germany is one of the largest buyers of Norwegian exports, dominated by natural gas.

What is different is that Norway is not in the EU. It is part of the European Economic Area (EEA), which gives it access to the single market for goods, services, capital and people, and most EU product rules apply. But Norway is outside the EU customs union and has its own VAT system, its own customs procedures at the border and its own rules in some areas, such as food and agriculture. For many German companies the practical consequences are customs declarations, Norwegian VAT and delivery terms, rather than differences in product rules.

Where German companies find a fit

Norway buys a lot of what Germany makes well. Common openings:

• Machinery, equipment and components for Norwegian industry, offshore and maritime companies, aquaculture and food processing.
• Vehicles, parts and technical goods, where Norwegian importers and dealers are the usual route.
• Building products and technology for construction, a sector with many small and medium-sized companies.
• Energy and climate technology, an area Norwegian and German companies already cooperate on.
• Engineering, software and services, sold directly or through Norwegian partners.

As always, search for the industry of the buyer, not your own. A maker of industrial pumps would look at aquaculture, food processing, water and wastewater, and the wholesalers that serve them.

A practical method

1. Define the target: direct customers, distributors (often wholesalers in industry group 46), integrators who build your product into their solutions, or public buyers.
2. Build a list from Norway's open company register, Enhetsregisteret, which uses the same NACE structure as Germany's WZ classification at the higher levels. Propler's free company search filters a nightly copy of the register by industry group, county, municipality, legal form, employees and more. In the AI search (free account) you can describe what you sell in plain language and get suggested Norwegian companies with reasons. Suggestions are decision support, not proof of a buying need.
3. Check every company: active status, legal form (AS corresponds roughly to a GmbH), filed annual accounts, CEO and board, and its own website. Our Norwegian company data guide explains the sources.
4. Follow public tenders. Norwegian public buyers announce contracts in Doffin and, above the EEA thresholds, on TED, the same EU portal you may already use. Award notices tell you who wins in your segment.
5. Contact a few companies well, in English unless you know they prefer German; say why you contact them and what the next step is.

Our guide to finding business partners in Norway from abroad covers the general method, including Norway's consent rule for e-mail marketing to individuals, and business opportunities in Scandinavia compares Norway with Sweden and Denmark.

Reading a Norwegian company the way a German one is read

German companies are used to checking a counterpart in the Handelsregister and the Unternehmensregister. The Norwegian equivalents are free and online:

• The organisation number (organisasjonsnummer, nine digits) identifies the company in every Norwegian register, on invoices and in public tenders, and is often combined with "MVA" when the company is VAT registered.
• The company register shows legal form, registered address, industry code, registered employees for many companies, the CEO (daglig leder) and the board, and whether the company is bankrupt or being wound up.
• The annual accounts of limited companies are filed with the Register of Company Accounts by 31 July each year and are public, also for small companies. Revenue, operating result and equity give a quick picture of size and solidity.
• The company's own website tells you which customers it serves and which brands it already represents, which matters when you choose a distributor.

Every company page in Propler shows these facts together, with the date the data was fetched.

Who can help

• The German-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce (Deutsch-Norwegische Handelskammer, AHK Norwegen) in Oslo, part of the network of German Chambers of Commerce Abroad. It represents German and Norwegian companies in each other's country and offers services, networking and events.
• Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI), which publishes market and legal information on Norway for German companies.
• The German embassy in Oslo and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Berlin.
• Innovation Norway, which works abroad together with Norway's embassies and follows Norwegian companies active in its regions.

What Norwegian buyers expect

• Clear delivery and customs terms. Because goods cross a customs border, state the Incoterms and who handles the Norwegian customs declaration and VAT.
• Service and support close by. Norwegian customers often value local service. A Norwegian distributor or service partner can be decisive.
• Supply chain transparency. Larger Norwegian companies must, under the Transparency Act in force since 1 July 2022, carry out due diligence on human rights and working conditions in their supply chains, similar in spirit to Germany's supply chain due diligence act. Expect questions.
• Directness. Norwegian business communication tends to be informal and to the point. A short, specific message usually works better than a long brochure.

When you establish in Norway

If you carry out business activities in Norway yourself, for example installation or service on site, you will usually need a Norwegian organisation number, typically by registering a Norwegian branch (NUF) through Altinn. Work on construction sites requires an HMS card for everyone on site.

Where Propler fits

Propler is built to make it easier to see which Norwegian companies are relevant to what you offer, and why. It covers Norwegian companies only; it does not search German companies. Read more on our About page and about the Norwegian market on the Norway market page.