Goldfish: seafood prices jumped by 10-40% in a year%
Seafood prices have started to rise in Russia, Izvestia has learned. In the face of rising logistics costs and lower catch, restaurants began to buy shrimp, squid, mussels, and salmon at higher prices. Due to the fact that it is more profitable for domestic fishermen to sell these products for export, the domestic market is faced with an unsatisfied demand for seafood. As a result, restaurant chains began to raise menu prices by up to 25% and look for cheaper replacements, at the same time risking a cooling in demand amid a slowdown in consumer activity. Izvestia investigated how the cost of seafood dishes changes and what the consumer should prepare for.
How has the cost of seafood for restaurants changed?
In January–April, Russian restaurants faced a sharp increase in seafood prices, market participants interviewed by Izvestia said. Both domestic and imported items have risen in price, said Yan Dmitrenko, co-owner of the Honest Fish chain. According to him, the purchase price of squid and northern shrimp increased by about 10% year-on—year, cod fillets - by 20%, and Chilean mussels — by 40%.
The volatility of prices for meat and fish products was confirmed by Sergey Mironov, founder of the Meat & Fish franchising establishments, Chairman of the Coordinating Council of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers (FRiO). On average, purchase prices for these categories increased by 10-20% in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025, said Marina Kotvitskaya, executive director of the Mokkano sushi bar chain.
The main reason is the rising cost of supplies due to complex logistics, according to Yan Dmitrenko. At the same time, it is often more profitable for Russian fish producers operating in the Far East to sell products for export, for example, to Japan, than to transport them in a refrigerated truck to Moscow, said Ilya Bereznyuk, managing partner of Agro and Food Communications.
According to him, seafood imports increased at the beginning of this year, while prices for them increased. At the same time, it is wrong to talk about a deficit "in the classical sense," the expert is sure. It's more about "insufficient saturation of the market," the source believes. The Russian fishing industry has a "strong export orientation" and logistical infrastructure problems.
The cost may rise due to a reduction in supply even in conditions of stable demand, Marina Kotvitskaya added. For example, if suppliers are running out of the right type of product, suitable packaging, or stable quality raw materials. In such cases, the available volumes are distributed more quickly among customers, and the purchase price gradually increases, the top manager explained.
Sergey Mironov attributes the rise in prices of Russian seafood and fish to spawning and storms in open waters. According to him, these factors have led to a reduction in supply in the market with continued demand. He also noted that seafood prices in the franchise network under his control are less susceptible to fluctuations, since domestic products are more predictable and do not depend on exchange rates.
At the same time, Alexey Rudko, the founder of the Kuril Coast fish store chain, said that there is a shortage of seafood in almost all positions in Russia, especially of domestic origin. We are talking about shrimp, fish and caviar, as a significant part of the catch is exported. He specified that products from Murmansk are supplied to Europe, and from the Far East to the countries of East and Southeast Asia. As a result, there remains a limited volume on the domestic market, which, taking into account logistics, storage and taxes, is often sold at comparable export value levels.
The increase in purchase prices was also influenced by the poor harvest of aquaculture and the closure of some seafood farming and fishing enterprises, explains Yan Dmitrenko. According to him, the remaining companies cannot fully meet the demand, which increases the pressure.
First of all, the cost of salmon has increased, which today in Russia can only be obtained from one supplier, said Albert Khamzin, Director of franchising at Sushi Market. At the same time, according to him, the network does not consider imported fish from Chile and China as an alternative due to the low quality of raw materials compared to domestic products.
According to the National Fish Resource on May 12, the wholesale price of Far Eastern pink salmon was 400 rubles per 1 kg, which is 8% more than a year earlier. Over the same period, keta rose in price by 6%, to 530 rubles per 1 kg. At the same time, the dynamics of value increase in the global market turned out to be more pronounced. Thus, Atlantic chilled salmon increased in price by 9.8% year—on-year and reached 95.5 Norwegian kroner (about 766 rubles per 1 kg), sea bass increased in price by 27.6% over the same period to 7.4 euros per 1 kg.
Izvestia sent inquiries to Rosrybolovstvo, the All-Russian Association of Fisheries Enterprises, Entrepreneurs and Exporters (VARPE) and the Fish Union. Rosinter representative (manages the restaurants "Shikari" and "Planet Sushi") He declined to comment.
How does the situation affect the prices on the menu of establishments
The sharp rise in seafood prices has forced restaurateurs to raise the cost of dishes on the menu. Sushi Market raised prices to avoid operating at a loss: since the beginning of the year, they have increased by up to 25%, depending on the category, Albert Khamzin said. Honest Fish applied a similar measure, said Yan Dmitrenko. According to him, the average check increased by about 10%.
The price increase at the purchase price level also affected the menu of the Important Fish chain, said Anastasia Shurigina, its representative. She does not consider this "something unusual," explaining this decision by annual indexation in the face of rising rental costs, increased tax burden and rising staff salary costs.
Dostaevsky's ready-to-eat service does not record a significant impact of external factors on the cost of seafood dishes on the menu, his representative said. According to the source, the brand's franchisees managed to avoid drastic adjustments due to a wide geography of supplies and long-term contracts with partners. At the same time, the main fluctuations occurred in other categories, said a representative of the service. In particular, there were short-term price spikes of 30-40% for some vegetables, he noted.
Despite the increase in prices on the menu, the demand for such dishes among consumers remained, Albert Khamzin noted. The restaurant's guests perceive seafood as a premium segment and are willing to pay this premium, says Ilya Bereznyuk. In the event that a dish with squid or octopus rises in price by another 15-20%, some visitors will begin to choose an alternative, he argues.
According to the results of January–April, the number of purchases in restaurants and bars decreased by 4% compared to the same period a year earlier, the Check Index service of the OFD Platform company calculated (it takes into account the data of 1.1 million online sales registers). The average bill for the same period increased by 8%, to 3,119 rubles. In Moscow, the number of purchases in establishments decreased by 14% year-on-year, and the average receipt increased by 6%, to 4,461 rubles. Cash sales in metropolitan restaurants collapsed by 8%, according to analysts. They clarified that the increase in cost is the main factor in increasing the turnover of the market as a whole.
The price increase will continue, Sergei Mironov believes. For individual items, the purchase price of seafood may add another 10-20%, says Marina Kotvitskaya from Mokkano. The dynamics will depend on the specific type of product, the region and the supplier itself, she added.
At the same time, world prices for some types of seafood, including shrimp, remain high, Ilya Bereznyuk states. In his opinion, the only deterrent may be the cooling of the import segment after the introduction of restrictions on the purchase of imported fish products for the state budget in July. At the same time, this will affect institutional procurement, not HoReCa (hospitality and catering).
Restaurants are trying to optimize the recipes of some dishes in order to reduce the increased cost without loss of quality, explained Yan Dmitrenko. For example, when Romano lettuce rose in price, it was replaced with iceberg lettuce with shrimp, he said. According to him, such changes are less critical than reducing the amount of seafood in the dish.
In terms of reducing people's expenses, restaurants try not to "overload" the menu with items that are expensive for the guest, added Yan Dmitrenko. Therefore, when developing new dishes, they are looking for more balanced cost solutions, for example, replacing tuna with snow crab surimi, he noted. This, according to the entrepreneur, allows you to keep an interesting presentation and taste, without making the dish unnecessarily expensive.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
