Chinese caviar sold as Russian in Russia
In Russia, imported Chinese black caviar is frequently sold as domestic caviar, despite lower wholesale prices; experts say this practice is driven by cost reduction and consumer demand, but domestic caviar prices remain stable due to export profitability and inflation.
Consensus
- Imported Chinese black caviar is often sold in Russia as domestic caviar.
- The wholesale price of Chinese caviar is significantly lower than that of Russian caviar.
- Chinese caviar is sold at similar retail prices to Russian caviar.
- The quality of Russian caviar has not changed.
- Russian caviar remains expensive and is more profitable to export than to sell at lower prices domestically.
- Producers may offer short-term discounts of no more than 10–12% but are unlikely to lower prices significantly.
- Due to inflation, a global price drop in caviar is not expected.
- The practice of selling Chinese caviar as Russian is not new and has been done historically to reduce costs.
- Consumers with low and middle incomes are the main buyers of Chinese caviar.
- It is important that surrogates are labeled with their true composition.
Points of divergence
- The popularity of Chinese caviar is due to its lower price after markup, allowing low-income consumers to save money. — vm
- The quality of Russian caviar remains unchanged, and producers are more inclined to export than lower domestic prices. — riamo
Coverage (4 sources)
- Chinese caviar in Russia is passed off as domestic — РИАМО
- Chinese black caviar: quality, as it appeared in Russia — Вечерняя Москва
- Novikov: One-third of black caviar in Russia turned out to be cheap import from China — Вечерняя Москва
- By elite price: almost a third of so-called Russian caviar turned out to be Chinese — РИАМО
Key entities
- Russia
- China
- Aleksandr Novikov
- China
- Union of Sturgeon Farmers
- Evening Moscow
- URA.RU
- Almost
- Lisovskaya Natalia