Prospective buyers inspect fresh tuna before the first auction of the year at the Toyosu Market in Tokyo on Jan. 5, 2023. - Kyodo News via AP
TOKYO (AFP): The top-selling tuna at Tokyo's traditional New Year auction sold for more than US$270,000 on Thursday (Jan 5), nearly double last year's price, breaking a pandemic trend of slumping demand.
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.
