Profitability of the sturgeon cultivation was spotlighted by China’s national broadcaster in a broadcast special which highlights the increased shift to premium products – and professionalization of profitable pockets of China’s aquaculture scene.
A popular business news show on CCTV featured Yang Shi Bo, a university graduate who left a high-paying corporate job in Beijing for the relative remoteness of Guangxi Province, where he took over and modernized a farm producing sturgeon seedlings. After initial challenges securing clean water and reliable larvae, Yang changed his larvae supplier and his operation is now profitable. Now Yang is venturing into caviar production. Chinese sturgeon farmers have competed on price and sought sales in traditional markets like Russia, to the chagrin of producers there. Canned Chinese caviar is also sold in Hong Kong.
