How caviar became China’s most unexpected success story

China is a major culinary country with a long culinary heritage. It was during the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic period that the “Eight Great Cuisines” emerged, each with its own distinctive flair: the crisp freshness of Shandong, Sichuan’s numbing spice, the ingredient-driven purity of Cantonese, and Jiangsu’s meticulous knife work. Fujian excels in seafood, Zhejiang offers refined elegance, Hunan provides bold heat, and Anhui specialises in wild delicacies sourced from the mountainous regions.

Yet, these cuisines largely revolve around everyday fare rather than the pursuit of luxury ingredients. When it comes to internationally recognised high-end ingredients, it is rare to find those produced in China.

The world’s most prestigious ingredients — such as the “holy trinity” of French gastronomy (truffles, caviar and foie gras) or Japanese Wagyu, the world’s most expensive beef prized for its “marbling” — require little embellishment. To subject Wagyu to the numbing heat of Sichuan or Hunan cooking, or to deep-fry a truffle, would be widely regarded as a culinary travesty.

The strong emphasis on cooking styles across China’s great cuisines essentially suggests that our ancestors primarily worked with everyday ingredients. As a result, competition in the culinary world has largely been confined to cooking methods.

It is not that our ancestors lacked an appetite for the exotic; the Yuan dynasty, for instance, celebrated the “Eight Delicacies”, which included camel hump, ape lips, leopard foetus, monkey brain, deer sinew, bear paw and shark fin. Yet, these exotic delicacies already sound rather unsettling to the modern ear. In a modern world where wildlife conservation is paramount, they can no longer be regarded as legitimate ingredients.

While certain luxury ingredients such as white truffles and matsutake mushrooms defy cultivation, and others like bluefin tuna and king crab demand arduous harvesting, some world-class delicacies are now products of modern aquaculture and farming. Behind this lies not only the assurance of quality through ecological protection, but also the support of innovation mechanisms and organisational efficiency within modern enterprises. One example is caviar.

Twenty years ago, few top international chefs would have imagined that caviar — a luxury originating in the Caspian Sea and once popular in the Russian and French royal courts — would be produced in China and take the world by storm. Yet, today, caviar produced in China is gradually replacing its French and Iranian counterparts on the tables of gourmets around the world.

In just a decade, China has become the world’s leading caviar exporter, with the most critical technologies and production capacity for this premium ingredient now concentrated in Chinese “laboratories” and “lakes”. Chinese companies have become leaders in the caviar market, with production reaching a staggering 200 tonnes in 2024.

Founded in 2003, Kaluga Queen — the premium caviar brand of Hangzhou Qiandaohu Xunlong Sci-Tech — has risen to become the industry titan over the last two decades. For 2026, the company has set its sights on increasing the sales of Chinese caviar in France by 15-20%.

With the development of China’s economy, consumer spending power has steadily risen. People’s pursuit of food is no longer limited to cooking styles, but increasingly centred on the sense of identity inherent in luxury ingredients. In his 1899 seminal work, The Theory of the Leisure Class, the founding father of institutional economics, Thorstein Veblen, argued that beneath consumer behaviour lies a fundamental competition for social status. 

Veblen lived in late 19th-century America during the “Gilded Age”, a period of rapid industrialisation. Within just a few decades, this economic boom birthed a “leisure class” emancipated from manual labour. This new social class sought out ever-more refined luxuries to flaunt their wealth and social standing.

History can be very similar. Since reform and opening up, China’s economy has grown rapidly, giving rise to a large, affluent upper middle class. Their culinary pursuits have gradually moved beyond the traditional tastes represented by the “Eight Great Cuisines”.

The upward trajectory of culinary consumption mirrors the evolution of the China International Food and Catering Expo (CFCE). Over a decade of growth, the CFCE now boasts over 13,000 exhibitors and a vast exhibition area of 700,000 square metres, all while earning UFI certification.

HOTELEX Shanghai has surpassed 400,000 square metres in scale, bringing together over 3,000 exhibitors. In 2025, overseas visitors exceeded 10,000 for the first time, spanning 148 countries and regions, making it an important global hub for food and beverage sourcing and business matchmaking. 

The exhibition has also evolved from a single focus on ingredients to a full chain coverage of ingredients, equipment, technology, business models and culture. In particular, on the product side, premium ingredients have increasingly secured a place and become core exhibits.

It is against this backdrop that caviar consumption has become more mainstream and youth-oriented, with such market demand naturally emerging as a new pivot for economic growth. Market demand is the strongest driver of corporate innovation, and Kaluga Queen is a prime example. Currently leading the industry in exports, the brand commands over a third of the global market share, marking a successful realisation of its international expansion strategy.

Today, Kaluga Queen exports to 46 countries and regions, including Europe and the US, underpinned by rigorous quality control and personalised services. Through technological innovation, it has developed seed resources, breaking through climatic constraints so that high-quality caviar can be produced even in summer.

China has long been known for its vast territory and abundant resources, with different regions offering diverse natural environments and climatic conditions, all of which provide suitable settings for cultivating a wide range of premium ingredients. Furthermore, decades of development have established a mature industrial chain, a massive market, and a world-class pool of scientific talent. When these strengths are combined with regional conditions well suited to high-end food production, more brands capable of producing internationally recognised premium ingredients like Kaluga Queen will inevitably emerge.

Pingliang Red Cattle is another example. This is a new premium breed of cattle bred in the unique local ecological environment of Pingliang, Gansu province, through sustained selective breeding and refinement. Produced across seven counties and districts — including Kongtong district, Huating city and Jingchuan county — as well as parts of neighbouring Qingyang, it is a distinctive breed formed through sustained crossbreeding and systematic selection.

Dubbed the “flagship breed of China’s premium beef cattle”, it is prized for its tender meat, pronounced marbling and rich nutritional value, making it a scarce high-end beef germplasm resource in the domestic market. With a brand value exceeding 22.2 billion RMB, it has established a comprehensive industrial ecosystem, from breeding and processing to branding and market distribution.

Another notable example is the Ganzi matsutake. A rare wild edible fungus native to the high-altitude primaeval forests of the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (Ganzi) in Sichuan, it is a distinct Chinese variety of Tricholoma matsutake. Renowned as the “king of mushrooms”, it is prized for its distinctive flavour and rich nutritional value, nurtured by a pristine ecosystem.

Its core production area, Yajiang county, has been officially designated “China’s home of matsutake”. With a brand value of 1.667 billion RMB, it ranks third nationwide among regional brands for matsutake and truffles, and stands as a hallmark of Ganzi’s ecological industry and premium food sector.

As an economist, I have to challenge the traditional Chinese notion that “frugality cultivates virtue”. The consumption of premium ingredients is not simply “luxurious waste”; while meeting individuals’ demand for high-quality living, it also plays an important role in driving industrial growth, generating employment, and promoting economic circulation.

Nearly a century ago, amid the hardships of the Great Depression, economist John Maynard Keynes introduced the “paradox of thrift” in his seminal work, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.

In his view, thrift at the individual level — greater saving and reduced consumption — is a virtue; yet at the macroeconomic level, if society as a whole becomes overly frugal and consumption falls short, total demand declines, firms scale back production, and jobs get cut, ultimately reducing overall savings and wealth. By contrast, a reasonable expansion of consumption can stimulate economic circulation and deliver greater macroeconomic benefits.

Consumption of premium ingredients such as Ganzi matsutake, Pingliang Red Cattle and caviar may seem “non-essential”, but from the perspective of the paradox of thrift, its core value lies in achieving a win-win for individual needs and the macroeconomy through “meaningful consumption” rather than “unchecked waste”.

This is because the industry chain for premium ingredients is often longer and more sophisticated than that of ordinary foods. Take Ganzi matsutake: from wild harvesting and cold chain logistics to advanced processing, each stage requires substantial labour input.

If consumers forgo premium ingredients in the name of “frugality”, it would not only deprive high-altitude foragers and ecological livestock farmers of an important source of income, but also lead to idle capacity across processing, cold chain logistics and high-end dining. 

By contrast, reasonable consumer demand can create a virtuous cycle in which demand drives supply. Take Yajiang matsutake: its annual consumption supports income growth for around 14,000 workers, increasing average household earnings by over 40,000 RMB per year. This income is then further channelled into everyday spending — such as housing, education and consumer goods — thereby continuously stimulating downstream economic activity. 

Moreover, the stringent requirements for quality, safety, and flavour in premium ingredient consumption compel the entire industry chain to pursue technological upgrades and business model innovation.

Consumption of premium ingredients sits where Keynes and Veblen intersect. Keynes teaches us that when an economy falters, sensible consumption is the antidote that revitalises the cycle; Veblen shows us that the pursuit of social status is the inherent logic behind consumption upgrading.

China’s premium food sector stands right at this historical crossroads: it faces a market where demand is both expanding and becoming more sophisticated, whilst being supported by technological capabilities and financial resources. As more people become willing to pay for “quality ingredients”, the gears of economic circulation begin to turn. This is not merely a matter of satisfying the palate, but a practical exercise in growth.

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