China is on the verge of becoming the world capital of caviar – Quartz



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Caviar has long been associated with power. It is thought that the name of the luxury sturgeon eggs derives from Turkish and Persian terms "chav-jar" and "khavyar", which means "piece of power". Indeed, the oldest disc of caviar consumed dates back to 1240, the powerful Batu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, would have enjoyed the fish roe in Russia, accompanied by canned hot apples.

The powerful snack then crossed Europe, becoming a staple on fanciful occasions, associated in the popular imagination to the Caspian Sea region, and more specifically to Russia, which dominated formerly the world production of caviar. But Russian production has stalled since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and sturgeon overfishing has led to a ban on natural caviar in recent decades. Today, most of the world's caviar comes from sturgeons in 50 countries, including the United States, France, Italy and Iran. However, only China is about to become the world capital of caviar.

More than half of the world's commercial caviar farms are now based in China, where local consumption and exports are booming, reports the South China Morning Post. The demand for expensive fish eggs, known as "black gold" or alternatively "black pearls", is rising sharply in China. As a result, the country has become one of the largest producers and consumers of caviar in the world, as part of a trend of wealthy Chinese to eat more and more high-end foreign foods, including foie gras, black truffle and artisanal cheeses, many of which are produced locally.

According to estimates by the China Sturgeon Association, China is expected to consume 100 tons of caviar annually by 2020. Currently, about 200 tons of caviar are produced each year in the world. This means that Chinese luxury lovers will soon enjoy half of the world's fancy fish eggs. And China is also a major caviar exporter, with local businesses growing and relying on the fact that demand will only grow. Between 2012 and 2017, Chinese fish farmers exported nearly 150 tonnes of caviar.

The UK-based market research firm Technavio predicts that the global caviar market will account for $ 1.55 billion by 2021, up nearly 75% from 2016, with limited availability and the high cost of this food making it ever more attractive to luxury consumers. Producers in China wish to participate in this activity, but they admit that there are obstacles.

A major is psychological. Luxury food suppliers and consumers around the world do not have the habit of thinking about China with respect to caviar. Pioneering exporters, like Kaluga Queen, who started selling caviar grown in China in 2006, initially had difficulty convincing consumers to buy their products. Xia Yongtao, deputy director of Queen Kaluga Queen, told China Daily last year: "At first we were treated with such bias that once they heard that Is "made in China", people immediately rejected us without opening the can. and have a taste. "

However, in 2011, the company signed a contract to supply the German airline Lufthansa with caviar in its first-class cabins. The success of Kaluga Queen in recent years has inspired others to follow her example. The big suppliers of caviar, like Paris-based Petrossian, would buy Chinese caviar, but they tend not to say that that's where their sturgeon eggs come from.

Caviar Colony, another caviar-producing company in China, says its goal is to change the minds and prejudices of the world. Benjamin Goh, a Singaporean investor in the company, told the South China Morning Post that he wanted to bring China's black gold to the planet and dispel the feeling that Chinese caviar growers could not compete with the best eggs in the world. sturgeons of the world. True, the company says that no fisherman from the Caspian Sea sturgeon could do it. Caviar Colony says his fish receive a special food blend, which includes traditional Chinese herbal medicine.

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