Red caviar for Ukrainians — not just highly beneficial, rich in trace elements product, but first and foremost new year’s attribute. And sometimes even the status and well-being: if this delicacy is not on the table in the festive night, then the prosperity this year, whatever. Traditionally before the holidays the buyer carefully examines the shelves with caviar, but this year to grab his head is not necessary: the prices and the range, oddly enough for a time of crisis, to be satisfactory. In addition, according to the Public organization “Union of consumers of Ukraine”, artificial caviar, which often come across on the shelves in the ‘ 90s, today in Ukraine there are: there is no need to bother with fakes if natural produce was very cheap.
We found out why this delicacy, unlike many other products, have not touched the global appreciation of why the ROE changed residence to the far East on okolostoličnyh, and most importantly — among today’s caviar diversity to choose really high-quality product that was not worth all the money in the world.
The PARADOX of cost: DOLLAR vs GRADE
Obscenely low prices for seemingly the choicest delicacy, besides import, to be honest, surprised. Before the crisis, when the dollar was 8 UAH, a jar of caviar we bought in an average 95-105 UAH ($12-13), today the main part of range is in the same price category — 90-120 UAH, but in USD it’s only about four “green”. At the same time, bananas and other imported fruits, such as sweets and sausages, has risen two to three times and are very dependent on exchange rate fluctuations.
It turns out that the secret is simple: the market for caviar has shifted, relatively speaking, from premium products in almost consumer goods, experts say. “The most noticeable trend EN masse to the market ROE of the 2nd grade, ice cream made from caviar raw materials here on the site (such production is far cheaper). In addition, for the sake of enticing promotional prices manufacturers went to smaller portions: there are already jars of 60-80 g. In this offer caviar in cheap and ultra-cheap segment increased significantly, and its total market increases. Not to say that the eggs become inaccessible to the Ukrainians, on the contrary — many now its not even afford once a year, as before, and on March 8 and family holidays”, says Marina hare, Director of marketing for an online store “1 caviar Supermarket”.
The trend of the season: the market EN masse caviar 2nd grade.
OPANCI AND PLASTIC. “The price of caviar depends on the type of fish (chum, sockeye, pink salmon, trout), interest in it lapanta and the amount of added oil — explains Galina Litosh, Manager category gourmet goods “METRO cash & carry Ukraine”. — Now there is a global shortage and rising costs of the most popular (75% of the market) caviar of pink salmon, and is an increasingly popular trout caviar. It’s a bit cheaper because of the size of eggs and different taste. Favorably to the average price of the product affected and the fact that Ukrainian producers, knowing the position of the consumer, are willing to concede in extra charges compared with previous years”. And to spawn on the holiday table could afford one, manufacturers offer different options for weight and packing, less expensive product: 100 g 130 instead of the traditional plastic instead of glass, etc. “It has a substantial impact not only on price but also on the perception of the product by the buyer, studying the shelf of the store,” explains the expert. According to her, although today the market is caviar for every budget — from $3 for 100 g of basic quality to choicest chum salmon caviar at $12-15 per 100 g, the main volume of demand drops that by $6-8.
Caviar price. Prices for new year’s delicacy will start from three dollars, even discounts there.
FROM THE FLOOR: CAVIAR-“ILLEGAL”
Black market caviar does not sleep: the cost of a good product trying to reduce the cost of underground and private deliveries. So, businessmen from Western Ukraine almost weekly travel in the EU for small batches of caviar the best German brands, Provost privately and marketing through friends and Internet message boards. This brand caviar is cheaper than from the official vendors, 40-60 UAH. In online stores this offer for 600 UAH per 0.5 kg (by the way, in November 2013, the same portion of German caviar of pink salmon were worth UAH 255). In Kiev, cheaper UAH 600 such eggs to be found, but are ready to deliver to the house even just one jar: margin allows you to spend money on travel.
But the caviar from Russia moved to the black market. “The Cabinet resolution to ban the import duties on the territory of Ukraine of goods from the Russian Federation made official the sale of Russian caviar is impossible. But those who are engaged in its import privately, continue to be imported”, — says the anonymous seller of loose caviar-nelegalka Yaroslav. Contacts with suppliers in the far East have dealers survived, delivery channels, too, so the underground “fresh salted” eggs you can get without problems in Odessa, Nikolaev, Kiev (advertise online). “The eggs could bring in the presentation, the implementation is not the problem, the regulars there. Volumes of deliveries of small parties go quickly, — says Yaroslav. — The price, even though packaged itself in plastic containers substantially above the store (a lot of intermediaries, and the complexity of clandestine delivery. — Ed.): in early October chum salmon was 1300 UAH/kg, in the middle of the month already at 1400, in November, chum salmon caviar is sold from calculation of 1500 UAH per kilo. Salmon appeared in 1300, and now 1400. Closer to the New year and the demand will rise and the price too.”
Loose in the calf can be a whole bunch of germs.
IT IS UNCLEAN. Trading smuggling accounts caution: the contacts for the phone only give personal messages, on the origin of the caviar say evasively, like “the Fish swam near Sakhalin island”, issues about quality assurance are ignored. “It’s understandable: I once took a calf directly into the house and saw the terms: they lay it out in plastic on the floor, next to some old rags, — says the inhabitant of Kiev region Evgeny Malyshko. — Then asked a friend who worked in the SES: he’s talking about, sterility is no question, in such loose eggs can be a “bouquet” of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus and yeast”.
Harmful microorganisms really long to get in calf, especially when unauthorized production and improper transportation. Even photographing product for advertising, it is already possible to spoil, if the camera is kept too close to dishes and it is unknown which bacteria can move into the capacity of non-sterile lens. “Large companies always check products before you offer the buyer, regardless of the manufacturer. And buying caviar using questionable sales channels, we must understand that risk,” — says Galina Litosh. Implementation period nevrogenny salted caviar in bulk, according to the quality standards to 4 months. That is, after spawning the fish until the New year quite really to find in Ukraine, a good Nebesny product. But the store, not with it.
The “black” caviar. Sold large portions through a friend.
MINING: FROM “FIREWOOD”
The buyer in the last couple of years I began to notice that the familiar green cans of your favorite treats and made new labels. If they had testified that their content has been produced and packaged in close proximity to place of origin, it is now an ordinary supermarket offers caviar come from pristalica Tarasovka, Pinchuk, Obukhov. Indeed, many Ukrainian suppliers are concentrated in the Kyiv region: “It is only with a developed infrastructure of Kyiv, which is important for optimization of production processes”, explains Galina Litosh. “Caviar, produced and packaged in Russia, today in Ukraine is not, — says Marina Rusak. — You bought a container and was carrying it in the Russian Federation for reprocessing, and then imported the goods in Ukraine. Today, the Russian unit of production has fallen: the eggs are laid on the jars right here.” Delve into the topic of the origin of the raw materials on which work the Ukrainian shop, market experts are not particularly eager to say: the vendors decide what raw material quality and origin them to work. However, Galina Litosh claims that the caviar at Ukrainian tables today goes directly from the United States (specifically Alaska): “This country has always been one of the largest exporters of caviar and now remains the main provider of it in Ukraine, she says. — The best in the world is Norwegian raw materials, but it massively goes to Japan and all other markets of the world allows America.” “Moreover, cheap American caviar overwhelmed even the Russian market”, — says Marina Rusak.
THE LATEST TREND: SNAIL CAVIAR
Black caviar as a delicacy — yesterday, say experts: to be known as a true foodie, you have to buy eggs snails (she is white, slightly larger than chum salmon). It was opened just 40 years ago a French chef, and today it is massively consumed in France, USA and Japan. In Ukraine it is not only for eating but also produce 50 g of this caviar of Ukrainian origin is 1850-2500 UAH (in Europe — about € 100). Expensive, but a grape snail produces just hundreds (3-4 g) berries per year. Store the finished, aged in brine for a product in just 3-5 months.
Eat with sauces and sour cream.
THE PROBLEM OF CHOICE: THE FALSE STANDARDS AND UTROPIN
Raw materials that are processed and rolled into cans all the manufacturers around the world, is sweetadeline or frozen. The best caviar is the one that was salted for two hours after catching the fish, and packaged no later than the month after that. Tinkering with raw materials sweetadeline most expensive: “you Have to put the caviar in a special vacuum container, to be transported at a certain temperature and packaged shortly after the opening, — tells Marina Rusak. And frozen raw material arrives ready-made in trays — just put on the defrosting (defrosting. — Ed.) process technology and banks. The quality of the product in the end radically different. The consumer says that when trying to make a sandwich: in the first case use 99% of the content of the jar, the second — 70% percent (plenty of fluids)”.
“Today, the eggs on our shelves, frankly, not very much, — says Oleg Tsilevich, Deputy Chairman of NGO “consumers Union of Ukraine”. — Often the manufacturer likes to deceive the buyer catchy word GOST on the label. But this is nothing more than a publicity stunt. Beside him on the label often appears and that, but if the product is produced according to technical conditions of the enterprise, the state here at anything. But even high-quality, produced according to GOST, the eggs are very easily spoiled by improper packing. So, in Europe and even the Russian Federation prohibited the use of preservative hexamine (a substance hindering the multiplication of microorganisms) in salted caviar, and allowed in Ukraine. And it is definitely used for transporting raw materials in Ukraine (so cheaper)”.
CAVIAR RATING. Therefore, according to Silvica, safe eggs in Ukraine are hard to find. “We checked the store options in the price range from 39 to 200 UAH — methenamine was all. I think the caviar is Packed in almost the same plant and, by and large, differs only in the size of eggs. A good product on the shelves of supermarkets misses, sometimes sold through online stores — often smuggled — believes Silvic. The deception is that the buyer is counting on the high quality by buying expensive caviar. But in fact over 50, and 250 receives the same”.
Marina hare and Galina Litosh with such opinion do not agree and suggest to choose the eggs with an eye on the price and the brand. Especially, we focus on the production date, you can no longer (this far East used to be considered the one that dated 8-10 months). “It is important to reduce the fluid: the perfect first-class product and only 5-10% solution of salt or juice of broken grains. And the producers with the name of the watch, that this index tends to zero”, — says Director of marketing. “2-3 years ago in Ukraine began to appear the ROE from Japan, extracted, and Russia, the Kuril Islands. She, like a pair of well-known Ukrainian brands, belongs to the premium segment: made of shock-frozen FRESH, foreign antiseptics (allowed on the territory of Ukraine) is 40 times less than salt, says hare. The Americans use other technologies. I would attribute the freezing of the USA to the middle segment, and the cheap — everything in the store sold less than 140 UAH, and the Internet — cheaper than the 100”. It is advisable, in the opinion of Oleg Silvica, buy still frozen American (made and packaged in USA) — it at least harmful preservatives, definitely not.
Liquid. Good caviar juice, oil and salt solution is 5-10%.
THEY HAVE: “RED GOLD” FOR 50 EUROS
Ilya Megul — guide to the countries of Scandinavia and Western Europe with 15 years of experience. According to him, Europeans love fresh fish, fish sauces, ketchup and pasta, but the eggs more than indifferent. The General trend for the whole of Western Europe — there is no cult of red caviar: perhaps because they are alien to our excitement to get scarce delicacy for the holiday, instilled during the Soviet era. “I’ve brought many times at the gift — a polite thank you, put in the fridge and forget (noticed after a time that is intact). There is enough caviar, but mostly other types of fish, beautiful to look at, it tastes like synthetic is about, as we do in supermarkets, — says Ilya. — And sold by caviar, wild salmon, trout — eggs are smaller, but good. But salmon costs about 50 euros for a small can (that is under 1000 UAH), trout — about 400 UAH, translated into our money.” Average salary, for example, the Norwegian, about 3500 euros per month, there’s even a caviar — not a luxury item in this country, but the product is unpopular. “As usual we only sell in the so-called Russian stores for our immigrants (the Europeans are now very carefully monitor the quality of products, prefer checked his own),” says the guide.
Branded caviar from Europe is good because is made really thick, without much liquid and oil. And most importantly — it was not seasoned harmful the preservative urotropine (E 239), which hopelessly spoils the product: this caviar to a high-standard relationship no longer holds.
