Brake on roe exports could send caviar prices soaring

Suppliers have warned that caviar prices could double following this month's suspension of wild sturgeon roe exports to protect the fish from extinction.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species has refused to set 2006 export quotas from three areas until producers agree to sustainable practices. They include the Caspian Sea region that accounts for 90% of world trade.

Suppliers are waiting to see if this leads to a permanent ban or drastically lowered quotas. But many believe the crisis will make farmed caviar, which currently has only a small share of the
UK market, the dominant source.

Kings Caviar founder Laura King said she believed the current temporary ban would become permanent within four years, forcing restaurants to use farmed caviar. She predicted the price of sevruga and oscietra caviar would double to about £2,500 per kg and that beluga caviar, which sells for about £3,000 per kg, would rise by 10%.

Mickael Retailleau, sales manager at Grivan Products, also believed soaring demand for farmed caviar would boost its price from the current £1,000 per kg.

But he warned that farmed caviar would not be able to make up the shortfall in caviar in the meantime, as sturgeon can take up to 20 years to reach egg-bearing age.