Caviar is being labeled: prices could soar to historic highs

We usually remember about red caviar closer to the new year, when we want to decorate the festive table with something out of the ordinary. More often, with average incomes, well, it doesn’t work out at all. But today, too, there is a good reason to talk about this delicacy. Russia is starting an experiment on labeling sturgeon and salmon caviar. Will the new struggle for quality affect prices? They are unstoppable…

Caviar, of course, is not a potato, and we, for the most part, do not particularly follow its prices – if only by the new year. Well, so, at the end of 2021, pink salmon caviar cost an average of about 630 rubles per 140 grams, in December last year, 825 rubles and 876 – chum salmon caviar. Now they cost respectively 1099 rubles and 1199 rubles.

The government of the Kamchatka Territory (the region is the absolute leader in the production of salmon in the Far East) explains the next rise in prices in February this year as an unsuccessful 2022 fishing season – as a result of which prices once again rose to a historical maximum.

Officially, the Far Eastern regions caught about 260,000 tons of salmon fish, almost two times less than in the previous fishing season. True, some experts note that none of the observers on the scales on the fishing trawlers stood. And that some part was exported, where prices are higher than on the Russian market.

The government’s experiment will last until March 31 next year and participation in it is absolutely voluntary. About 30 large companies producing red caviar have already expressed their desire to participate in the pilot project. Once labeled, it means that the goal is clear and understandable: the fight against illegal circulation of caviar on the market. The path of each can from the manufacturing plant to the consumer will be traced.

There seems to be no alternative to fighting illegal caviar trafficking. Moreover, it was necessary to start fighting this evil much earlier. If in 2018 the share of product quality violations was 31%, then in 2021 it is already 81%. According to various sources, the percentage of illegal red caviar on the market ranges from 20% to 27.5%. Even in retail chains where there is strict input control, about 80% of the goods sold are sold with serious violations of processing technology or temperature storage. Analyzes of control bodies reveal in such packaging E. coli, preservatives and even the replacement of caviar with cheaper types.

It would seem that our consumers are shot sparrows. They know that you can buy caviar only if it is packaged in the period from June to September, when salmon spawns. And it is better that it is packaged not in Moscow, the Moscow region or in Belarus, but somewhere on the shores of Kamchatka, where it was caught and rolled into cans. And although we know this, but, as statistics clearly show, we are still not immune from falsification.

How does this happen? At the end of December, for example, at every fish store, peddlers sell red caviar for 200 rubles per jar. And they take it, because it is 4 times cheaper than the store. However, it doesn’t look like a real product…

As for the labeling experiment that has begun, the manufacturer will not have to pay for putting the code on the packaging, that is, the retail price of caviar will not change. But when the experiment is successfully completed, this procedure will become paid both for the manufacturer and, accordingly, for the buyer.

– From my point of view, marking will not affect the fight against counterfeiting, – considers the chairman of the Union of Consumers of the Russian Federation Petr Shelishch. – What is fake? This is a change in the composition of the product in order to save or simplify the production technology. But the digital marking does not look into the packaging. The manufacturer submits an application and buys stamps. And what he actually puts in a jar or in a container is on his conscience. This has nothing to do with the digital marking procedure.

– But will the marking affect illegal flows of red caviar?

– Need to think. However, according to my ideas, supported by life experience, illegal products enter our refrigerators through other channels. Many Russians have their own, reliable and well-established supply channels – through acquaintances or relatives. As a rule, such caviar is really both real and cheaper than store-bought.

– How much can the price of caviar rise after labeling becomes obligatory for all producers instead of voluntary?

– Price is the ratio of supply and demand. I would be glad if the demand for caviar, as some sources sometimes report, grew in the country. This would mean that the incomes of Russians are growing. I’m afraid the price increase is due to a reduction in supply. We need to increase the production. I do not think that the marking will give a significant increase in prices, because the base cost is already quite expensive without it. 50 kopecks mark, 10 kopecks VAT. The final price will include the cost of purchasing equipment.