STORY:
Caviar crisis feared for the millennium

For months, millennial party planners have been worried about the supply of champagne for the New Year's Eve 1999 parties. Now, they have another concern. Gourmets fear that there won't be enough caviar to go around either.

Caviar importers in Switzerland fear a substantial shortfall of one of the world's main trading centres for the expensive sturgeon's roe. The problem is easy to predict, says Roman Schaetti, head of sales for Porimex, one of the premier caviar exporters in the world. Since fresh caviar only keeps for up to a year, only caviar from the autumn 1999 catch will really be usable for the millennium celebrations.

Many caviar gourmets and a few worried hoteliers, he says, are already attempting to secure supplies for the celebrations.

"We have received many orders from private customers for the millennium clelebrations in recent weeks," said Gabrielle Rusznyak of Caviar House AG, another large importer based in Geneva.

"It is not usual to reserve so far in advance, but some caviar enthusiasts are clearly afraid that they will not get any otherwise," she said. Porimex has also reported early orders from Beglium and Switzerland.

Yet neither importer is accepting orders with price guarantees, as increasing demand and the new protection guidelines for sturgeon which came into force last April are likely to force up prices sharply in 1999.

A medium quality 100-gramme tin currently costs around 90 U.S. dollars. But wealthy gourmets are prepared to pay more than 300 dollars for golden caviar, and grey beluga is almost as expensive.

Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur

DATE: 1/12/99

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