Snoek prices skyrocket for #Easter weekend
It’s that time of the year when you are lucky to get a snoek in Cape Town without blowing the entire week’s wages.
|||Cape Town - It’s that time of the year when you are lucky to get a snoek in Cape Town without blowing the entire week’s wages.
In the run-up to Easter, the average price for fresh snoek has skyrocketed by 400 percent, and you can now expect to pay between R150 and R350, depending on who you buy from.
The Daily Voice cast its net over the Cape Flats on Wednesday, hoping to reel in a reasonably priced snoek to make pickled fish with, but had no luck.
Snoek prices traditionally go up before Easter as people make pickled fish, which is eaten on Good Friday to mark the death of Jesus Christ after he was crucified.
In Mitchells Plain, on the corner of AZ Berman and Morgenster Road, Farieda Brenner, 45, has been selling fish for more than 25 years.
She says they unfortunately have to pass the buck to consumers, because the boats are charging them top dollar.
“This time of the year, the quality of the fish must be at its best and where we usually charge about R60 to R80 per snoek... for the season we are charging people R200.
“It is expensive, but it’s necessary as we also have to pay much more to ensure we get the catch of the morning.”
“We have brand new customers all the time, but the same loyal customers have been coming to us for years.
“They know we don’t sell them nonsense.”
We spotted about four different bakkies selling snoek on the Stellenbosch Arterial.
Their prices and freshness varied, but even there the price was between R170 and R250 for a fresh, average-sized snoek.
At Kalk Bay harbour, business was booming.
The early bird gets the biggest fish, and there you could pay only R150-R180 for a large snoek, which is gutted, cleaned and cut while you wait.
Carlina George, 49, of Lentegeur, says she does not care about the price at Easter: “Solank die snoek nie pap is nie (As long as the fish is fresh), I will pay any price.”
Fred Michaels, 56, from Kraaifontein, drove all the way to Hout Bay for his fish.
“I don’t eat that pap cheap snoek. I rather drive out my petrol than eat pap pickled fish on Easter,” he said.
Daily Voice