Situation on Russia's red caviar market normalizing, prices will not rise further - Fisheries Association
MOSCOW. Dec 11 (Interfax) - The situation on the red caviar market in Russia, which has been difficult this year due to low salmon catches, will normalize in 2025, and there will be no further price increases, the president of the All-Russian Fisheries Industry Association Herman Zverev said.
"I think that next year the situation will stabilize, and in general there will be no tragedy or any rapid further increase or escalation in the price of red caviar," Zverev said at a press conference in Moscow on Wednesday.
The situation this year was affected by the salmon catch, which turned out to be the worst in the last 20 years, he said.
As reported, the catch of Pacific salmon reached 235,500 tonnes by December 3, 2024, including 136,200 tonnes of pink salmon, 54,600 tonnes of chum salmon and 35,900 tonnes of sockeye salmon. This amounts to a drop of 13.5% compared to 2022 (salmon catches are compared between even and odd years). The decline is more significant when compared to 2023. The Russian Federal Fisheries Agency (Rosrybolovstvo) forecasts a fall in red caviar production to 11,000-13,000 tonnes.
In previous years, a significant impact on prices came from "a considerable presence of poached caviar on the market - about 1,500 tonnes," Zverev said. "This caviar was entering trade, and naturally it lowered price levels. A significant portion of the caviar was sold by fly-by-night companies that avoided paying VAT. This accounted for at least 10%-15% of the market. Another source was low-quality caviar sold by dubious producers," he said. "Thus, the presence of illegal, low-quality, tax-evading caviar created a huge surplus on the market, which lowered the price," he said.
The process of labeling caviar which began this year is changing the situation, he said. "The red caviar market is now starting to normalize," he said.