This Country Produces The Most Caviar

Caviar (aka sturgeon fish eggs) has long been equated with luxury and excess. The high price tag that comes with it means it's generally been reserved as a treat for the wealthy. The very best caviar was said to come from Russia, where it was procured from sturgeon living in the chilly Caspian and Black Seas. Not one accustomed to buying such fancy ingredients, I assumed most caviar still came from the enormous country. As it turns out, China is currently the country which produces the most caviar in the world.

China exported 3.7 billion kilograms of caviar in 2023, making it the highest producer by far followed by the European Union, Japan, Germany, and then Italy. A single caviar farm in China produces 35% of the world's supply, sending its fish eggs around the globe, including to Michelin-starred restaurants in France and the United States.

Who's purchasing all this caviar, anyway? For the most part, the United States is. In 2023, the United States was the largest buyer of the luxury food followed by France, Germany, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates. Interestingly enough, even the most valuable caviar now comes from farmed fish, not wild-caught sturgeon. This has mostly to do with fishing practices which nearly decimated the species' population.

Humankind has been consuming caviar for centuries, but it was Russia which was largely responsible for bringing it to the masses and transforming the roe into a coveted ingredient thanks to its proximity to the Caspian and Black Seas where sturgeon have historically thrived. (In case you didn't know, caviar is different from other fish eggs.) For years, it was common practice for caviar companies to fish wild sturgeon solely for their eggs and fisheries would simply toss the fish back into the sea for them to die once the caviar was harvested. This led to dangerously low numbers of the once-thriving species. 

Particularly in danger were the sturgeon that produced Beluga caviar, which has long been considered the finest in the world. In 2005, importing Beluga caviar was outright banned by the United States, and still is. Caviar producers in China and other countries have now largely turned to farmed sturgeon for their supplies to avoid repeating this mistake.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the United States and many other countries banned Russian imports and placed tariffs on goods which further affected what remained of Russia's caviar production and export. A country that was once known for contributing some of the finest culinary ingredients to the world, like caviar, smoked fish, and vodka, is now largely obscure. If you get your hands on caviar, you'll be in for a treat. It's traditionally eaten with toast points or blinis with a dollop of crème fraiche, but it is surprisingly delicious with potato chips. Just don't reach for Doritos.