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Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market held its first tuna auction of the new year on Saturday, fetching a price of ¥6.07 million — the highest in five years — for a 276-kg bluefin tuna.
The tuna, caught off Aomori Prefecture, was bought by the owner of a Hong Kong-based sushi chain. The price per kg came to ¥22,000.
The record for tuna is ¥20.2 million, or ¥100,000 per kg, set in 2001 for a 202-kg tuna caught in the same waters off Oma, the northernmost town on Honshu.
"I've never heard of the highest price in the first auction of a year coming from a person in Hong Kong," an auction participant said.
The Hong Kong chain also has a restaurant in Tokyo.
About 2,900 tuna caught at home and abroad were put on sale at the auction. After a bell was rung to kick off the auction, loud voices announcing settlement prices were heard everywhere.
Amid tightening controls on catches and rising fuel costs, however, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Japan, the world's biggest consumer of tuna, to secure a stable supply of the fish.
The international catch quota for bluefin and southern bluefin tuna is being gradually reduced to preserve tuna resources. Higher fuel costs following a record-breaking surge in oil prices have forced an increasing number of Japanese fishing boats to discontinue the tuna harvest.
Demand for tuna in other Asian countries is rapidly rising as well, with Chinese businesses willing to pay high prices for large volumes.
At Tsukiji, prices for tuna caught overseas seas have risen by an average of 20 to 30 percent from the previous year, partly because imports of cultured tuna from Croatia, Spain and other countries have dropped sharply since last fall.
"Tuna shipments to Japan will be reduced," a market participant said. "If tuna prices remain high due to a fall in supplies, Japanese consumers will further shun the fish."
Source: JapanTimes
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