Sawt Falasteen - Japan tuna price soars past $270,000 at New Year auction

NYSE - LSE

BCC	2.87%	82.55	$
JRI	0%	12.44	$
NGG	-2.23%	80.36	$
RYCEF	-3.16%	20.6	$
BCE	1.1%	23.62	$
CMSC	0.52%	21.35	$
RIO	3.69%	100.39	$
GSK	1.96%	52.175	$
CMSD	0.38%	21.17	$
VOD	0.46%	16.205	$
BTI	-0.88%	55.889	$
RELX	2.11%	35.255	$
RBGPF	0.51%	69	$
AZN	2.52%	164.24	$
BP	1.58%	44.107	$

Japan tuna price soars past $270,000 at New Year auction / Photo: Richard A. Brooks - AFP

Japan tuna price soars past $270,000 at New Year auction

ECONOMY 05.01.2023

The top-selling tuna at Tokyo's traditional New Year auction sold for more than $270,000 on Thursday, nearly double last year's price, breaking a pandemic trend of slumping demand.

Text size:

Michelin-starred sushi restaurant Onodera Group and Japanese wholesaler Yamayuki forked out 36.04 million yen ($273,000) for the 212-kilo bluefin tuna in the auction at Tokyo's Toyosu fish market.

The figure was still only a fraction of the 2019 record price but marks a recovery for the symbolic auction after three years in which prices slumped.

Last year's top-selling tuna, bought by the same pair of bidders, went for just 16.88 million yen, with observers blaming subdued demand as a Covid wave ripped through Japan in early 2022.

The New Year auction is highly anticipated, and securing the top-priced tuna offers bidders bragging rights.

For years, the top bid came from self-proclaimed "Tuna King" Kiyoshi Kimura, who paid a record $3.1 million in 2019.

But in recent years, Kimura has held back, citing the pandemic.

N.Shalabi--SF-PST

Sawt Falasteen - Japan tuna price soars past $270,000 at New Year auction

Japan tuna price soars past $270,000 at New Year auction

Featured

Merck and Moderna's tailored cancer drug curbs melanoma recurrence in trial

Oldest human brain cells grown in lab 'recorded passage of time'

UK media skewered for 'hounding' black academic

UK PM launches bid to get rough sleepers off streets by Christmas