A sushi crunch is capturing Russia's worsening economic woes

• Russia's currency and inflation woes are well captured by something economists don't usually focus on: sushi.
• Local prices of the Japanese delicacy are surging due to the ruble's plunge and Russia's rift with the West, a report said.

Russia has battled a host of economic challenges over the past year thanks to its deepening rift with the West amid Moscow's war on Ukraine - and the latest among these is a beleaguered ruble and surging price pressures.

The currency plunged to a 16-month low last week, taking its tumble from a July 2022 peak to 50%. The country's official inflation rate climbed to a five-month high of 4.3% in July - but that number doesn't relay the reality. and actual level should be higher than 60%, according to top economist Steve Hanke.

Russia's exchange-rate turmoil and spiraling inflation are now being captured in something that rarely crosses economists' radar: the price of sushi.

Local prices of the popular Japanese dish could surge as much as 30% over the coming weeks as ruble weakness and Russia's economic schism with the West and its allies boost the cost of inputs, according to a report by the Russian news website Metro. Restaurateurs in the Eurasian nation are already grappling with surging prices of sushi ingredients, according to the report.

"The price of rice, fish and Japanese nori seaweed depends on the dollar. Many components for the production of sushi and rolls come from abroad," Maxim Tagin, a senior executive at SushiPizzaWok, a Japanese food delivery services based in Moscow's satellite town of Odintsovo, told Metro.

Costs of several sushi inputs have jumped by 40%-50%, and Russian establishments serving the Japanese delicacy are now forced to pass on the price increases to consumers, Ilya Zakharov, brand chef at the Dolphin and Rusalka cafe and Morsoky restaurant at the Black Sea resort town of Sochi, told the outlet.

On Monday, the embattled ruble sank past 100 to the dollar – a level not seen since April 2022 in the early stages of the Ukraine war.

That prompted the Russian central bank to announce an outsized emerge cy interest-rate increase to support the currency. The monetary authority boosted its benchmark rate by a whopping 350 basis points on Tuesday to 12%. Also, President Vladimir Putin reportedly held an emergency meeting last week to explore ways to prop up the exchange rate, sources told the Financial Times.

Putin reportedly listened to proposals from the finance ministry that include forcing exporters to sell up to 80% of their foreign currency revenue, capping currency swaps, and limiting how much foreign currency exporters can move out of Russia.

Ruble weakness is just one of the many economic headwinds Moscow is facing. Capital has flown out of the country in droves, and European nations have reduced their reliance on Russian oil, causing export revenues to fall. As a result, Russia's current-account surplus dropped 85% in the January-July period from a year earlier.