Wholesale prices for salmon caviar have fallen between 15 and 50 percent in Russia this fall as a result of a record-breaking salmon season.
Experts told SeafoodSource that the drop in prices is likely to be short-lived as New Year’s Eve, the biggest holiday in Russia, is around the corner.
Media reported wholesale prices for pink salmon (humpback salmon) caviar dropped by 50 percent in comparison to the corresponding period of last year. It now costs about RUB 2,500 (USD 38.00, EUR 33.60), while it was nearly RUB 5,000 (USD 76.00, EUR 67.10) a year ago.
Caviar from chum, coho, and sockeye salmon is 15 to 25 percent cheaper than in 2017. Online wholesale trading systems are selling coho caviar at prices between RUB 2,700 and 3,300 (USD 41.00 and 50.13, EUR 36.20 and 44.30), chum caviar at RUB 2,300 to 3,300 (USD 34.94 to 50.13, EUR 30.90 to EUR 44.30), and sockeye caviar at RUB 2,250 to 3,250 (USD 34.20 to 49.40, EUR 30.20 to EUR 43.63).
In retail, one kilogram of pink salmon caviar now costs RUB 4,800 (USD 72.94, EUR 64.44) on an average, which is cheaper than year ago, but not twofold.
According to data from the Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries, wholesale prices for fish also went down. In early October, one kilogram of pink salmon cost RUB 95 (USD 1.44, EUR 1.27) against RUB 152 (USD 2.31, EUR 2.00) a year ago. Chum now costs RUB 185 (USD 2.80, EUR 2.48) versus RUB 250 (USD 3.80, EUR 3.35) last year.
This drop in prices has been caused by the record-breaking salmon season, which ended in the mid-October. In total, more than 660,000 metric tons of salmon were caught, 2.5 times more than in 2016.
“Retail prices are going to fall toward [the] end [of] November or early December,” Ilya Bereznyuk, managing partner of Agro and Food Communications, an agriculture industry consultancy, told SeafoodSource. “Before the New Year’s Eve and the Orthodox Christmas prices will increase again a bit.”
In November and December, significant amounts of trout caviar are expected to be delivered by aquaculture farms, which may also influence the salmon caviar market, Bereznyuk said.
Photo courtesy of Russia Beyond
