The holiday menu will be more expensive this year: the most popular fish under the Christmas tree costs 25 percent more – but demand remains good. Not only carp, but also trout and zander are increasingly served on Christmas Eve. Imports do not make it easy for domestic aquaculture.
After the geese, the price for the Christmas carp also explodes. Where last year a kilo of skinned fillet cost 20 euros, this year it is around 25 euros. That is no less than 25 percent more.
Up to 32 euros
The fillet of rainbow trout, which booms around Christmas and New Year, climbed to 25 euros for local fish, a kilo of smoked and filleted costs no less than 32 euros.
Feed price is one reason
“Feed and packaging have become more expensive,” explains Martin Mayringer, aquaculture expert at LK Upper Austria. Carps are fed with grain, trout with protein-rich special feed. In addition, you need a lot of (expensive) electricity to cool or aerate the ponds.
Work in full swing in the Fischkalter
Carps have been frolicking in the Fischkalter of Kremsmünster Abbey since the beginning of November. “In recent years, our price has always remained the same,” explains Dietmar Mühlwanger, master fisherman at Kremsmünster Abbey. Here too you had to follow to cover the costs. However, the demand is well underway: “We are still taking orders for Christmas until December 19.”
Imports create a lot of pressure
“We can cover only seven percent of the demand for carp in Austria with domestic production, but for freshwater fish it is almost 35 percent,” says Mayringer.
In the longer term, however, the price war with cheap imported goods can reduce domestic aquaculture: “Then it will be like with turkeys: domestic production has shrunk by a quarter because our farmers are different.”
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
