Caviar prices in South Africa

The short answer

A 10 g tasting tin starts at R590. A 30 g tin — enough for a small dinner — runs from about R1,590 to R2,790 depending on species and grade. A 100 g centrepiece of Beluga is the top of the range at R7,990 to R8,490.

Below is our full price list. It is the live price, not an estimate.

Prices in South African rand. Beluga and Russian Sturgeon Premium also come in 28 g and 50 g jars — see the Beluga and Russian Sturgeon pages.

What you are actually paying for

The fish, and how long it took

Sturgeon are slow. The larger the species and the longer it takes to mature, the more the roe costs — which is why Beluga sits at the top of every price list in the world and Sterlet sits at the bottom. That gap is biology, not branding.

The grade

Within the same roe, larger and more uniform pearls are separated into a higher grade. Fewer pearls qualify, so Premium costs more than Classic. The difference between a 10 g Classic and a 10 g Premium is usually R50 to R100 — the cheapest upgrade on the list. More on grades.

The chain between the producer and you

This is the part that varies wildly and the part nobody prints on the tin. Every reseller in the middle adds a margin, and every one of them is a place the cold chain can break. We buy direct from trusted producers, which is the single biggest reason our numbers look the way they do.

Delivery

Cold delivery is not free to run, but it should not be a profit centre either. Cape Town is free over R2,000 and R150 below that; everywhere else in South Africa is a flat R200. How delivery works.

How to spend less without buying worse

• Buy a smaller tin of a better grade. A 10 g Premium beats a 30 g of something tired, every time.
• Consider Bester. It carries a lot of the Beluga character — buttery, nutty, long — at roughly a third of the price.
• Cross R2,000 if you are in Cape Town. Delivery goes free, which is R150 back in your pocket.
• Do not stockpile. Caviar is not wine. Buy it for the occasion, not for the cupboard.

Is cheap caviar a red flag?

Not automatically — a short supply chain genuinely lowers the price. What should worry you is a seller who cannot tell you the species, the grade, or how the tin was kept cold on its way to you. Those three answers matter more than the number on the label.

What to buy for the occasion

• A first taste — Sterlet Classic 10 g, R590.
• A dinner for four — Russian Sturgeon Classic 30 g, R1,990.
• A serious course for two — Bester Classic 50 g, R2,990.
• A gift — Russian Sturgeon Premium 28 g jar, R2,190.
• The centrepiece — Beluga Premium 100 g, R8,490.