英国のフィッシュ・アンド・チップス痛撃、ロシアのウクライナ侵攻

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】英国の名物料理フィッシュ・アンド・チップスが、ロシアのウクライナ侵攻により危機に直面している。（写真は英ブライトンのフィッシュ・アンド・チップス店「キャプテンズ」で提供されるフィッシュ・アンド・チップス）
　欧州連合（ＥＵ）からの離脱（ブレグジット）、新型コロナウイルスの流行という二つの嵐を乗り切り、インフレ高進の荒波と闘っているフィッシュ・アンド・チップス店のうち、数千店がウクライナ危機で「沈没」してしまうかもしれない。
　イングランド南部の海辺のリゾート、ブライトンにある店「キャプテンズ」。経営者のパム・サンドゥさんは普段あまり不平不満をこぼさないが、新鮮な白身魚がぎっしり詰まっているはずの店の大型冷蔵庫は、ほとんど空っぽだ。
　英国のフィッシュ・アンド・チップス業界団体「全国フィッシュ・フライヤーズ連盟（ＮＦＦＦ）」のアンドルー・クルック会長によれば、英国内のフィッシュ・アンド・チップス店で使われるタラ科の白身魚の３０～４０％はロシア産で、揚げ油に使われる植物油はウクライナが世界最大の輸出国だ。
　「ウクライナでの戦争の影響で、魚が手に入らない」「注文してもわずかしか手に入らない。価格も昨年の２倍になった」とサンドゥさんはＡＦＰに語った。植物油を入手するのも難しくなっているという。
　英政府が３月中旬にロシア産の白身魚に３５％の関税を科した影響が出始めている。エネルギー価格の高騰も追い打ちとなっている。

■物価の高騰
　英国の「国民食」とも言われるフィッシュ・アンド・チップスは、１８６０年代に誕生し、労働者階級の日常食として普及した。塩とビネガーをたっぷりかけて食べるテークアウトの定番メニューで、かつては古新聞に包んで提供された。グリーンピースのディップやタルタルソースが添えられることも多い。
　しかし、人口動態や食生活の変化により、近年その人気は衰えている。
　フィッシュ・アンド・チップスは「安価な料理と考えられている」ため「薄利多売が常態化している」と、ＮＦＦＦのクルック氏は説明する。「残念ながら物価が高騰しているので、利益を守るのは非常に難しい。実際のところ、利益は帳消しになっている」
　英国では燃料費の高騰を受けて出港を見合わせる漁船も出ており、魚の価格はさらに上昇している。
　一方、新型コロナの流行中に１２．５％に引き下げられていた付加価値税（ＶＡＴ）は、２０％に戻される予定だ。
　こうした要因が重なって、全英に１万店あるフィッシュ・アンド・チップスのうち最大３０００店が「おそらく今後半年以内に」倒産する恐れがあるとクルック氏は述べた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/04/11-09:44）

They have weathered the storm of Brexit and Covid, and are fighting the tide of rising inflation. But thousands of Britain's fish and chip shops could be sunk by the war in Ukraine.
At Captain's, in the seaside resort of Brighton, on England's south coast, owner Pam Sandhu is normally not one to complain.
Yet the shelves of her large refrigerators are empty when they should be full of fresh white fish ready to be dipped in batter and deep fried, then served to hungry customers with piping hot chips.
In ordinary times, Russia supplied between 30 and 40 percent of the fish sold in British fish and chip shops, mostly cod and haddock, said Andrew Crook, president of the National Federation of Fish Friers (NFFF).
Ukraine is the world's biggest exporter of vegetable oil, which is used for deep frying what the NFFF calls Britain's undisputed national dish.
With this war in Ukraine, there is no fish available or a very small amount, Sandhu told AFP. Before we were ordering in large quantities.
Now there is only a minimum order that we can get. The price has doubled from what we paid last year.
The vegetable oil has also become hard to come by, she added, and meanwhile the UK's introduction in mid-March of a 35 percent tariff on the import of white fish from Russia has begun to bite.
At the same time, fish and chip shop proprietors are also being hit by rising energy prices.
On a sunny spring Friday in late March, Sandhu was worrying whether she would even have enough fish to get through the weekend.
She has been in the business for 30 years, often working seven days a week, and said she has never known as many problems with supplies or pressure on costs.
Sandhu's restaurant has a terrace that looks out onto Brighton's pebble beach and pier. She bought it three years ago and had planned to open in March 2020.
Then came Covid, followed by rising inflation and now the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia. It's been the perfect storm for fish and chips vendors.
- Price hike -
Fish and chips, first served as a single dish in the 1860s, has long been a working-class staple, although demographic and dietary changes have seen its popularity wane in recent years.
The takeaway favourite, covered in lashings of salt and vinegar, used to be wrapped in old newspaper and is typically served with mushy peas or tartare sauce.
We've always been seen as a cheap meal so our margins have always been quite low and we work on volume, said the NFFF's Crook.
Unfortunately now with the inflationary price it is very difficult to protect your margins, in fact they're wiped out.
Crook, a fish and chip shop owner in Lancashire, northwest England, has increased his prices by 50 pence ($0.66, 0.58 euros) a portion to £8.50.
Fish has became even more expensive because some British trawlers are staying in port due to the high cost of fuel.
It's just not worth them going out and setting sail, so that's further pressure on the supply of fish and it's driving pressure further north, he explained.
Meanwhile sales tax (VAT) is going back up to 20 percent having been cut to 12.5 percent during the pandemic.
All of which could put as many as 3,000 of the country's 10,000 fish and chip shops out of business, said Crook.
It will probably happen in the next six months. I think there is going to be that much pressure on people, he predicted.
- Cheaper than chips -
Sandhu is hoping that her reputation and the quality of her fish and chips will help her ride out the storm.
She has not increased her prices but is keeping a close eye on her competitors.
We have to keep the customer happy but I can't work for nothing. I have a home to feed, she added.
Cheaper hamburgers, hot dogs and sausage rolls are now on the menu.
But regular customer Sharon Patterson said she will keep coming, whatever happens.
Fish and chips have been part of my world ever since I existed, she said, sitting on the terrace alongside her mother, who is in her eighties.
We do have to keep supporting all our local businesses and as long as I can afford it, I will come down and have fish and chips whenever I can.
It's part of my growing up. It's part of my culture.