The FAS got involved in the situation with fish prices in Russia. People don't understand what happened, why everything suddenly became so expensive, and whether there's any hope for prices to normalize.
The question "when will prices fall" sounds like the FAS can just wave a magic wand and everything becomes cheaper - but in reality it's way more complicated. A regulator can stop collusion or price manipulation, but they can't force a producer to sell at a loss. And the price hike happened because of a bunch of factors all at once: logistics are getting more expensive, transportation costs are skyrocketing, currency fluctuations affect imports. It's all piling up on top of each other!
As for the FAS - they're more about making sure nobody's making deals under the table or artificially inflating prices through collusion, but they can't change global trends. Normalization will only happen when logistics, energy prices, and exchange rates stabilize. This isn't a matter of weeks - could be a matter of months or even a year!
For now the advice is simple: look for fish on sale, buy seasonal stuff (when the catch is in), check out frozen options - they're often cheaper than chilled. And yeah, you'll just have to get used to the new prices while the situation sorts itself out.
I noticed this year that fish prices in stores really have gone up - when I was buying trout or pink salmon last year, it was more budget-friendly. The reasons are standard for this kind of situation: demand increased, supply dropped, logistics got more expensive. Plus a lot of producers probably built in a safety margin for potential future cost increases, and that usually sticks around in the prices for a long time. The FAS got involved because the jump was too sharp and noticeable to regular shoppers - it's a politically sensitive product, people eat fish often.
As for whether prices will drop - realistically you shouldn't expect any significant fall in the next month or two. The FAS can inspect suppliers, look for monopolistic behavior, issue fines if needed, but that's not a magic wand. Price is set based on production costs, and if costs for production, transport, and storage really did go up, then the price will stick around. What's more likely is stabilization - prices will stop climbing as fast and start dropping more slowly, but we won't get back to the old levels anytime soon.
My advice - switch to cheaper fish (pollock, hake, herring), try frozen fillets from Asian traders if there's one nearby, or at least don't go hunting through stores looking for what's on sale. I wouldn't read into the panic based on news about the FAS - it's just the regulator doing its job, not a signal that prices are about to crash.
Don't expect the Federal Antimonopoly Service to magically bring prices back to last year's levels - regulators can't order producers to cut their costs. Fish prices went up because of a whole bunch of reasons: shipping costs, currency fluctuations, changes in catch volumes and imports. Even if the antimonopoly service finds some violations, that's more likely to affect fair competition than the actual prices. Accepting the new price level and switching to more affordable options - that's the real strategy until global factors change on their own.
Fish on the shelves really has become noticeably more expensive, and there are several reasons tangled up together here. Logistics got pricier, fuel costs are going up, wages at fish processing plants are rising, exchange rates are all over the place. Plus demand for protein products stays consistently high, while supply isn't unlimited - mostly we're either getting expensive imported fish or domestic catch, which has to be fished under difficult conditions. When I went to the store for salmon at the beginning of summer, it was priced like a premium product, even though it used to be just a regular option for a family dinner table.
As for the FAS - the regulator can monitor price-fixing or unfair practices, but can't just order prices down. If the reasons for the increase come down to logistics and raw materials, then it takes time and an improvement in the economic situation for prices to stabilize. FAS intervention only makes sense if there actually turn out to be inflated markups or coordinated actions by retail chains.
Don't expect to see a return to last year's prices - it's more about keeping them from shooting up even higher. If you want to save money, it makes sense to switch to less popular varieties - like pollock or hake cost noticeably less than salmon, and they're pretty much just as nutritious.
Log into answer.
