Chinese caviar firm Sichuan Run Zhao Fisheries aims to greatly expand its output in 2025.
Li Run, the chairman of Run Zhao, which also sells products under the English name Frosista, told Sichuan officials recently that his company plans to build a new breeding center in the Leshan region of Sichuan that will produce 5,000 metric tons (MT) of fish intended for caviar production.
“The output of our company reached 63 MT in 2024, which was about 14 percent of the global production,” Li said on the social media app Weibo, adding that his company’s output this year will increase to between 70 MT and 80 MT.
China is the world’s top producer of caviar and has a chance to secure an even greater market share as Iran and Russia have continued to ban wild catch of sturgeon due to overfishing. Chinese companies also have easy access to a domestic market that is increasing its demand for caviar.
“The appetite for caviar has been growing in China and Asia in general, so some of their producers are focusing on their domestic market,” Cyrus Tabrizi, the director of U.K.-based caviar farm Caspian Monarque told SeafoodSource.
However, even though China produces caviar at a lower cost than other producers like the E.U., tariffs and other regulatory hurdles have resulted in Chinese caviar becoming more expensive to ship abroad.
“The price of caviar was dropping until about 2022. After [Russia’s invasion of] Ukraine, prices have risen about 20 percent,” Tabrizi said. “So, prices of caviar have gotten more expensive, but consumers’ buying power hasn't. Overall, we’ve seen an increase in price for all caviar.”
Nevertheless, Tabrizi said the market has become more diverse, with different types of caviar being farmed around the globe and consumers starting to develop a “hierarchy” in terms of taste, quality, and price.
To differentiate itself from competitors, Run Zhao has focused on developing seafood products with which it pairs its caviar products; among its products is shrimp balls that pair with its caviar offerings.
