China Comes to Dominate World's Caviar Production

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Lucy Craymer, Chinese Farming Flatlines Caviar Prices; Fish eggs cultivated in China flood global market for what used to be a rare delicacy. Wall Street Journal, Mar 19, 2019.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/som ... tlining-11552914000
https://thecaviarfarm.com/wall-street-journal-wsj-chinese-caviar/

Quote:

(a) "Caviar prices are sinking as fish eggs cultivated in China are flooding the global market for what used to be a rare delicacy.

"The tiny, salt-cured eggs from wild female sturgeon were once at risk of extinction due to overfishing and poaching. As a result, all trade in wild caviar has been tightly controlled under a global treaty since 1998.

"These days, most caviar is harvested from sturgeon farmed in rivers, lakes and tanks around the world. * * * In recent years, China has become one of the world's largest producers of caviar, and it's driving global prices down.

(b) "The US imported $17.8 million worth of caviar in 2018, up from $7.6 million in 2014. About half of the 2018 imports came from China, according to US Census Bureau data.

"China's caviar export volumes surged between 2012 and 2017 to around 136 metric tons, according to trade data from teh Convention on Intenatinal Trade in Endagered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

(c) "Marshallberg Farm in North Carolina, which farms Russian sturgeon in two locations, can produce five to six metric tons of caviar a year when operating at full capacity. * * * [But US a[[;oed a 10% tariff on Chinese caviar as part of trade war, which might increase to 25%.]

(d) "The total amount of farm-produced caviar is well below levels seen when wild fishing was at its peak in 1980s, according to World Sturgeon Conservation Society * * *

(e) "Most [sturgeon] breeds take at least five years to reach maturity and produce roe * * *  

(f) "China's caviar market is dominated by a large player called Kaluga Queen, which produces as much as a third of the world’s caviar. The company, which farms sturgeon in China's Zhejiang province, has been increasing its output by 20% to 30% a year and expects to keep growing at that rate over the next five years, according to Xia Yongtao, Kaluga Queen's deputy general manager.

Note:
(a) The report is locked behind paywall. There is no need to read the rest, though.
(b)
(i) sturgeon (n; "plural (especially collectively) sturgeon, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) sturgeons")
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/sturgeon

This definition put this in the same category of the noun "fish" whose plural form varies in the same manner.
(ii) But www.wiktionary.com and www.collinsdictionary.com both say its plural form is "sturgeon or sturgeons."

(c) Hangzhou Qiandaohu Xunlong Sci-Tech Co, Ltd 杭州千岛湖鲟龙科技股份有限公司（简称鲟龙科技或公司
http://www.caviar-china.com/page.asp?act=1&bgclass=19
(2003- ; "卡露伽是迄今为止全球最大的人工养殖鲟鱼子酱品牌 * * * 创立 [品牌 brand; distinguished from company name] KALUGA QUEEN（卡露伽）。品牌立意为 '一位佩带劳力士的成功人士在品享晶莹剔透像雨露一样富含卡路里的顶级美食。' * * * 卡露伽是迄今为止全球最大的人工养殖鲟鱼子酱品牌，其鱼子酱产量和出口量连续三年位居世界第一")
(i) The company website does not specify which sturgeon(s) it raises.
(ii) "Sturgeon is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. Their evolution dates back to the Triassic some 245 to 208 million years ago. The family is grouped into four genera"  en.wikipedia.org for sturgeon (citation omitted).