First class is “Made in China” November 9th, 16:22
Caviar is a representative of high-class ingredients along with truffles and foie gras.
In fact, it is the neighboring China that is rapidly increasing its production volume.
Even in the first class of major European airlines, Chinese products are being adopted.
In contrast, in the former major production areas, there were producers working hard to recover against China.
(Akihito Yanagihara, Director of Shanghai Bureau / Takeshi Togawa, Director of Tehran)
Producing "one-third of the world" Huge base in eastern China
Located in the suburbs of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, eastern China, "Qiandao Lake" is said to have 1000 islands.
In a corner of a scenic lake, sturgeon egg caviar is now being produced in large quantities.
It is said that natural mountain water suitable for sturgeon farming flows into the lake, making it the largest farm in the world.
It is said that 100 tons of caviar can be obtained in a year, which is one-third of the amount traded in the world.
Caviar is produced by a company established by members of government-affiliated research institutes.
Initially, many failures continued, such as the death of a large number of sturgeons, but after trial and error, hundreds of thousands of sturgeons are now being cultivated.
It takes at least 7 years to make caviar, and 20 years for high-end varieties, and sturgeon that has grown to a certain size after artificial breeding is slowly grown in the lake.
After that, it is said that the caviar is transferred to the livestock made on land and the caviar is made in an environment adjusted to the water temperature and flow suitable for sturgeon.
In the era of disappearing natural caviar farming
In the past, caviar was mainly collected from natural sturgeon.
A particularly famous source is the Caspian Sea, where coastal Russia and Iran captured sturgeon and shipped caviar around the world.
However, since the 1990s, sturgeon has decreased sharply due to overfishing and environmental pollution.
From 2010, sturgeon fishing in the Caspian Sea was banned.
As the number of natural sturgeon declines, sturgeon farming is gradually expanding around the world.
According to the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), an environmental group, most of the caviar traded in the world was natural in the early 2000s, but nowadays more than 90% is farmed.
The former major production area
Iran's Caspian coastal traders, once a major producer, are also under pressure to undergo major changes.
Mr. Bahashai, a former fisherman, showed us around the site.
I used to catch sturgeon every day in the Caspian Sea, but after a ban on fishing, I switched to aquaculture.
Bahashai's
"competitors China is producing a large amount of caviar. Not win in the same way."
Mr. Bahashai says that he feels that there is no chance of winning in terms of production volume and is focusing on improving quality.
We are only cultivating the Beluga, a beluga whale, which has the highest quality caviar, which is said to be only 1% on the world market.
It takes more than 10 years to grow, and when it grows, it weighs hundreds of kilograms. Although it takes time to cultivate, it is highly regarded worldwide.
Mr. Bahashai is deliberately drawing water from the Caspian Sea into his aquaculture facility in an attempt to create the same environment as the former beluga habitat.
Mr. Bahashai
"
Produces
high-quality and high-quality caviar and fights the world. I want to make Iran's caviar famous in the world market again."
In Iran, although there are business hurdles such as the difficulty of overseas remittances due to conflicting US economic sanctions, the words made me feel pride as a historic caviar producing area.
Chinese caviar colors Europe's air travel
However, Chinese caviar is trying to increase its international competitiveness not only in quantity but also in quality.
A caviar tasting event held at a five-star hotel in Beijing this fall.
Foreign-affiliated hotel executives and restaurant chefs were enthusiastic about Chinese caviar.
Foods made in China, where food safety issues are often pointed out at home and abroad.
It is said that the company engaged in aquaculture at "Qiandao Lake" mentioned above has been conducting research to improve quality and is being highly evaluated not only by Chinese but also by foreigners.
Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris and first-class major German airlines have also adopted this company's caviar.
Caviar cultivated in lakes in China is adorning the air travel of Europe all the way.
Image change For general households
Han Lei, who has been involved since the establishment of the company, says he wants to change the image that Chinese products are dangerous and of low quality.
Mr. Han said that the quality was questioned by the customers just because it was made in China.
Now, I am deepening my confidence that I am actively accepting inspections from overseas and gradually changing my image by having them actually taste it.
He says that his future goal is to deliver caviar, which is a representative of luxury goods, to ordinary households around the world.
Han's company's caviar is the most expensive and is sold to wealthy people such as France, Germany, and the United States for over 270,000 yen per 100 grams.
On the other hand, depending on the type of sturgeon, we also have a 100-gram sturgeon with a price of over 12,000 yen.
It means that it has already been exported to more than 30 countries and regions including Japan.
At an affordable price?
Caviar that has come to be produced all over the world, mainly in China.
In Japan, sturgeon is cultivated in Miyazaki and Okayama prefectures, and caviar is produced.
It has been pointed out that if aquaculture expands worldwide and production increases, prices will fall.
When the day comes when you see caviar at an affordable price, you may want to think about the production site.
Akihito Yanagihara,
Director of Shanghai Bureau
Joined in 2008
After working at Kagoshima Bureau and Directorate General of China, he is currently based in Shanghai and covers the social and political situation in China.
Tehran bureau chief
Takeshi Togawa
2005. He joined
Niigata stations, Shanghai Branch, through the China General Administration, is now covered the Iran situation