Cod of war: Ukraine batters British fish and chips

A Ukrainian flag waves in front of smoke rising from a bombed warehouse in the town of Stoyanka, west of Kyiv, on March 4, 2022. – The UN Human Rights Council on March 4, 2022, overwhelmingly voted to create a top-level investigation into violations committed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. More than 1.2 million people have fled Ukraine into neighboring countries since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, United Nations figures showed on March 4, 2022. (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS / AFP)

BRIGHTON, United Kingdom — They have weathered the storm of Brexit and COVID-19, 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 Agence France-Presse (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 the United Kingdom’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 about 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-19, 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. —AFP

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