Where Does Caviar Come From Today?
Today, the world’s four largest producers of farmed caviar are China, with nearly 330 tonnes annually, followed by Italy with 70 tonnes, and France and Poland, each producing around 50 tonnes. They are followed by the United States, Germany and Bulgaria, whose annual production ranges from 5 to 20 tonnes.
A third group of producing countries has also emerged, with more modest volumes. These include Uruguay, Spain and Belgium, each producing fewer than 5 tonnes of caviar per year.
It is worth noting that many of the leading producers have chosen to use aquaculture as a means of preserving local or endemic sturgeon species.
This is the case in France, which has committed to the conservation of the Acipenser sturio (European sturgeon); in the United States, with the Acipenser transmontanus (White Sturgeon); in Italy, with the Acipenser naccarii (Adriatic Sturgeon); and in China, with both the Acipenser schrenckii and the Huso dauricus, native to the Amur River and commonly known as the Amur Sturgeon and Kaluga Sturgeon.
Bulgaria also farms species that once occurred naturally in the Danube River.
By contrast, some countries have developed sturgeon farms despite having no historical wild sturgeon populations. Uruguay is a notable example. Located in the Southern Hemisphere, it is far removed from the natural range of wild sturgeons, which are native exclusively to the Northern Hemisphere.
Today, sturgeon farms can be found across the globe—and given the remarkable growth of the industry, this worldwide expansion is only just beginning.