Russia expected to flood Europe with caviar in five years

Russia has resumed official exports of sturgeon caviar to the European Union after nine years of ban, a fishery watchdog said on Friday, hoping to curb poaching and flood international markets in five years.

Stocks of sturgeon, known in Russia as the "Tsar fish", have shrunk since the fall of the Soviet Union, and Russia banned the exports of the black caviar in 2002. But that played into the hands of poachers, taking the illegal market to $1 billion.

Russia only allows the sale of nine tonnes of black caviar from wild sturgeon on the home market each year. But the Federal Fishery Agency has decided to begin allowing exports of caviar from farmed fish to Europe, a spokesman for the watchdog said.

"The export of the first 150 kilograms of caviar is very symbolic, it is the first such decision in nine years," Alexander Savelyev said. "The first delivery will reach European customers next week."

He said the volume of exports would grow. Rapidly developing fish farms in the Rostov, Kaluga, Astrakhan and Novosibirsk regions will soon be able to produce up to 10-15 tonnes of caviar per year.

"It takes a sturgeon five to seven years to mature, so I expect that in the next five years we will flood both the internal and export markets with caviar," he said.

The move is expected to stop poachers, who have gone on a spree since the ban was imposed, Savelyev said, but would unlikely lead to a drop in prices.

"You shouldn't have any illusions about it, black caviar is never going to be cheap. It will always be expensive," he said.

Illegal black caviar sells in Moscow markets for about $1,600 a kilogram and has been advertised for sale on some European internet sites for about $5,000.

The Caspian Sea has four-fifths of wild sturgeon reserves, but stocks have declined because of poaching and illegal trade.

Russia is in an accord with Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, setting quotas on sturgeon fishing and banning exports.