China is mass producing endangered fish and wrecking European caviar markets
Bullets:
Chinese aquaculture has boomed over the past two decades, and farmed fish will soon pass poultry globally as the most important animal protein in human diets.
Some Chinese fish farming operations focus on the highest-value species, including sturgeon--the most important source for high-priced caviar--and Atlantic salmon.
Sturgeon and salmon are threatened, and decades of overfishing has forced global authorities to restrict fishing them until natural stocks recover.
But China has gone from a 100% net importer of caviar, to the world's biggest producer and exporter. For salmon, giant farms--both onshore and offshore--are devoted to mass production of Norwegian and Atlantic salmon, which are also exported in high volumes.
Fish and caviar are highly perishable, and need to be sold and consumed shortly after harvest. New Chinese supply coming on to the market immediately results in lower prices. This is putting strains on European companies, who should have enjoyed record high prices and profits, given export restrictions on caviar from Russia or Iran. But Chinese production is suppressing prices, destabilizing caviar markets in Western Europe.
Report:
Good morning. China is now by far the world’s largest producer of farmed fish, and now produces more than the rest of the world combined, at over 50 million tons per year. India is the world’s second largest producer, at 10 million tons. Adding China and India together, we’re getting 65 million tons of farmed fish, per year.
Successful aquaculture has been crucial in keeping the human population fed. The chart below is the production of protein sources, by decade, from fish—farmed fish and naturally caught—then for beef, pork, and poultry. Fish from all sources is still the most important source of animal protein in human diets, and fish from farms will soon pass poultry as the number one source of animal protein, and China is the source for most of that. Over the past 3 decades, aquaculture has more than quadrupled.
In fact, China’s fish farm industry is now so productive that it is wrecking markets around the world, for the most expensive fish products. China today is the world’s leading producer of caviar. Italy and France are the biggest producers of caviar in Western Europe, and now producers there are struggling because Chinese caviar production is pushing down prices. Italy produces 65 tons of caviar a year, and just one Chinese company, Kaluga Queen, produces 200 tons. Caviar and other seafood is highly perishable—and it needs to be sold quickly—so new production by China results in immediate price reductions across markets.
Caviar is very expensive, up to -- this would be $1400 per kilogram, or $630 USD per pound. And lots of it now comes from Zhejiang province. That’s because caviar tends to come from sturgeon, but sturgeon are being overfished across the world outside China, and it’s little wonder if their eggs are $1400 per kilo. So now the shift is to producing sturgeon on farms instead of in the wild, and this plays to China’s strengths, again—commoditizing a product under mass-market, mass-production conditions.
Today, China is the leading producer of caviar, and especially caviar from sturgeon. Russia and Iran are the other top producers outside Europe, and their exports are limited by international treaty until their sturgeon stocks recover. So that leaves China, who went from being a major importer of caviar to the world’s top producer of it, at 60% of the global total, and now they are the world’s top exporter. In 2023, China exported 276 tons of caviar, which is almost twice as much as in 2019.
China even supplies the US market, despite high tariffs there. So now 60% of caviar imported by the US comes from China, and 84% of Europe’s imported caviar comes from Chinese farms, with a lot of that coming from Zhejiang and Sichuan.
That’s caviar and sturgeon. Chinese companies are also focusing on other high-value fish in huge farming operations, both onshore and offshore. Atlantic Salmon is threatened by overfishing, and Norway has just seen the worst salmon runs in history, and they are closing rivers to salmon fishing. The same is playing out for North Atlantic salmon, whose stocks are at an all-time low. So Norwegian companies are setting up joint ventures in China, to farm salmon here. Ningbo is in Zhejiang province, not far from Shanghai and Hangzhou, and it’s the first large-scale onshore salmon farm in China.
Chinese companies are also investing heavily in farming salmon, both onshore and off. This company uses giant octagonally shaped cages with room for 300,000 salmon, and the vessels will be much larger in the future. Stock density on for these offshore facilities is four to six times traditional net pens. Eventually they hope that offshore aquaculture in China will be more than 600,000 tons a year.
The reason that the sturgeon are overfished is that they taste good, and consumers will pay a lot of money for it. Same with Atlantic salmon. Consumers around the world are still paying good money for good fish, but now they’re buying it from China.
Resources and links:
Salmon fishing in Norway in 2024
https://www.environmentagency.no/news/2024/salmon-fishing-in-norway-in-2024/
China's Sturgeon Farming, Trade, and Consumption Situation
‘Like doomsday’: why have salmon deserted Norway’s rivers – and will they ever return?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/29/like-doomsday-why-have-salmon-deserted-norway-rivers-and-will-they-ever-return
China’s caviar is roe-mancing the world as sales go swimmingly, exporters reel in profits
https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3270643/chinas-caviar-roe-mancing-world-sales-go-swimmingly-exporters-reel-profits
China’s offshore fish farming grows amid environmental concerns
https://dialogue.earth/en/ocean/chinas-offshore-fish-farming-grows-amid-environmental-concerns/
Norwegian Salmon - Farmed on the Doorstep of Major Urban Centers in China
China’s changing fisheries, in numbers
https://www.eco-business.com/news/chinas-changing-fisheries-in-numbers/
'The rising tide of Chinese caviar is destabilizing markets'
The Billion-Dollar European Caviar Business, Now Disrupted by China
https://equalocean.com/analysis/2024110821180
Farmed fish emerge as a key global protein source
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Datawatch/Farmed-fish-emerge-as-a-key-global-protein-source
I began following your youtube channel, yet I find the written form is so much more important.
Well done China yet, again