Vietnam ramps up caviar production, eyeing Mideast markets

By Arno Maierbrugger/Gulf Times Correspondent/BangkokVietnam, until now not widely known as a caviar-producing nation, has made great efforts in the past to breed and cultivate Russian sturgeon at aquaculture farms across the country, with the result that global connoisseurs are now taking notice of the precious and expensive fish eggs produced by the Communist country.With high-end caviar production — mainly Beluga caviar harvested in the Caspian Sea — from traditional suppliers such as Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran drying up due to the decreasing population of Beluga sturgeons in the world’s largest salt water lake due to overfishing and pollution, Vietnam had such a success in breeding the Russian sturgeon that it now seems to be able to take over a large part of the global Beluga supply.Newly founded caviar companies in Vietnam are eyeing new export markets for the valuable product. Besides Russia, this is especially the wealthier Middle East, as well as discerning consumers in East and Southeast Asia. With the slump of Russia’s currency, the rouble, the latter markets became even more important. Despite the GCC countries, especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are stepping up their efforts to invest in the local aquaculture industry, there are so far only two farms able to produce sturgeon caviar in the Middle East: Emirates Aquatech in Abu Dhabi, which was launched in end-2013 and aims at a production volume of 35 tonnes of caviar per year from 2020, and Caviar Court in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, which has a capacity of around 5 tonnes of caviar per year. But Vietnam’s caviar production is set to grow to a large multiple of that over the coming years, making it an important core supplier for the Middle East. Large players such as Vietnam Sturgeon Corporation, companies under the umbrella of Vietnam Sturgeon Group or entrepreneurs such as Le Anh Duc, Vietnam’s “Caviar King”, with his company Caviar de Duc, could push production of Vietnamese caviar to beyond 1,000 tonnes a year.To put this into perspective:  Beluga caviar production used to be around 3,000 tonnes annually in the industry’s heydays in the 1970s, but supply has now dropped to 260 tonnes from aquaculture a year, according to a Canadian study on the global caviar market published in November 2014, while demand has been on a steady rise since, with rare black Beluga caviar selling for up to $12,000 a kg and special variants such as albino caviar for as much as $100,000 per kg, while “normal” white sturgeon caviar still has a wholesale price tag of around $2,000 per kg, Siberian caviar of around $3,000 per kg, and Kaluga caviar of around $6,000 per kg.The World Sturgeon Conservation Society estimates that — with new market players such as Vietnam entering the industry — global supply of caviar could grow to about 750 tonnes annually in a few years. But still, market research puts annual demand at 3,000 tonnes, with the US, Europe, Russia and increasingly China and other developed East Asia countries being the biggest consumers. In the Middle East, the UAE is the largest market for caviar at around 20 tonnes a year, mainly sold to hotels, upscale restaurants and airlines, followed by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.