Herring throws off her fur coat: how much has the popular New Year’s dish risen in price

It is already obvious that not all Russians will be able to decorate the New Year’s table with delicious varieties of red fish, and even more so with red caviar. Expensive, not every family can afford. But this does not mean at all that on long holidays we will not be able to feast on seafood. After all, the traditional New Year’s dish – herring under a fur coat – has not been canceled. And according to the calculation carried out by Rosstat, this year it will rise in price by 5.5% compared to last year.

The Rosstat formula is as follows: 350 grams of salted herring, two chicken eggs, 300 grams of mayonnaise, 400 grams of potatoes, 300 beets, 200 carrots and 100 grams of onions. On average in Russia, this dish will cost 225 rubles.

But this, as they say, is the average temperature in the hospital. For example, for residents of Chukotka, the cost of ingredients for a salad will cost more than 560 rubles, in Yakutia — 367, and in Magadan — 351 rubles.

But if you decide to save on this dish, then it’s best to go to Mordovia – there a “herring” costs only 177 rubles, in the Penza region 182, and in Omsk 184 rubles.

Muscovites, with their average incomes exceeding Russian ones, do not need to go anywhere, culinary specialists from Rosstat estimate the preparation of a salad at 253 rubles.

The rise in the cost of lettuce was affected by the rise in prices, in fact, for the main ingredient — herring itself: this year by 18.4% — from 80 rubles for 350 grams to 95. While all other products (except mayonnaise) fell in price. In particular, beets by 31%, carrots by 25%, potatoes by 33%.

Hence the general rise in the price of the dish – by 5.52% — not so big: almost 2.5 times lower than the national average annual inflation.

But why has the price of herring risen so significantly? According to statistical reports, its catch in 2022 is ahead of schedule, for the period January-November it amounted to about 230 thousand tons, almost 40% higher than last year’s level. It is possible that the fishermen have their own logic: if all seafood is becoming more expensive, then why should herring be an exception to the rule?

Perhaps in a year, “herring under a fur coat” will no longer be so accessible to some categories of Russians. The fact is that the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation has been limiting the catch since 2023. Pacific herring, the northern seas remain in the “reserve”, where the cost of production is much more expensive. And if we take into account that since 2014 Russia has stopped importing seafood in general, and herring, in particular, from unfriendly states, then prices in the domestic market can greatly increase.

But if, with a stable catch of herring in the Pacific (so far) and Atlantic waters, its price is growing, then what can we say about the delicacy red fish, the fishing season for which this year turned out to be unsuccessful? According to analysts, this year it has risen in price the most. Wholesale prices more than doubled in the first half of the year. Prices for salmon and trout increased by about 2.5 times — mainly due to import restrictions and trade wars.

And such species of red fish as pink salmon, chum salmon, sockeye salmon, coho salmon simply were not “found” in the oceans. According to the Association of Production and Trade Enterprises of Fisheries, the catch amounted to less than 300,000 tons, while a year earlier, the fishing season yielded 500,000.

Both Russian fishermen and the world scientific community are confident that due to global warming, the number of salmonids is decreasing on the planet, and this is a long-term trend. The offer will decrease every year, and the demand in the market will grow. There is nothing left but to increase prices.

It’s good that in Russia there is a folk dish — Herring under a Fur Coat. In any case, it still does not let most of us forget the taste of real seafood.