China now leads global caviar production
Summary and headline written by AI from the source article. How we work
China has become the world’s leading caviar producer, with farms in Yidu, Hubei province, driving the industry’s growth.
In recent years, the country shifted caviar farming from river cages to land-based operations, addressing pollution concerns and creating new jobs. More than half of the world’s caviar, nearly 437 tonnes in 2025, now comes from China.
Yidu sends over 10,000 boxes of caviar daily to approximately 20 countries and regions, including Europe and the Middle East, and one company claims the city alone accounts for around 30% of the global market. The “Sturgeon Valley” in Yidu contains over a million fish distributed among 1,000 ponds, and a new processing center opened last October can produce up to 120 tonnes of caviar annually. Chinese researchers accelerated caviar production by breeding sturgeon that mature faster.
Normally, female sturgeon take over ten years to produce caviar, but crossbreeding in Yidu has reduced this timeframe to seven or eight years. Scientists also developed a method to identify female sturgeon earlier in their development, avoiding years of investment in fish that will not produce eggs. These efficiencies have lowered prices, with some Chinese supermarkets selling caviar for as little as 24 euros per box.
Local authorities highlight the industry's environmental improvements, noting that river cages, which polluted the Qingjiang River with fish waste in the 1990s, were removed starting in 2016. Land-based farms now use 200,000 solar panels for half their electricity and treat water before returning it to the river. The transition also employed former fishermen, providing over 70 permanent and 200 seasonal jobs.
