208kg Bluefin Tuna Sells for Modest $202,600 USD at Tokyo's Toyosu Fish Market

Tokyo‘s New Year’s tuna auction has just passed, and with it came the sale of a 208-kilogram bluefin tuna for ¥20.84 million JPY (approximately $202,580 USD). What’s significant about this price is that historically, auction prices for bluefin tuna fetch much higher closing prices, like 2019’s ¥333.6 million JPY ($3.1 million USD) 278-kilogram bluefin tuna sold at Tsukiji – or roughly $11,151 USD per kg versus last week’s $974 USD.

The lower price is not indicative of a lower quality fish but rather a decrease in demand from a battered restaurant industry brought on by a decrease in tourism and local dining during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. These auctions often bring in a large crowd as sushi restaurant owners flock to the morning auctions to pay the highest price for a chance to make headlines. This year’s Toyosu Fish Market auction was not open to the public as a safety measure against the Coronavirus.

The winning bid went to Yukitaka Yamaguchi of Yamayuki as he commented, “It was a good result amid a lot of negative news. It is a good tuna.” While the 65-year-old fisherman who caught the fish off the port of Oma revealed, “It was heavy when I pulled it up [onto the boat], and I thought ‘Great,’ there is no doubt that it is fatty.” He also whimsically jested that the sale would cover his boat fees and a decent amount of alcohol.

In other food news, KFC Singapore is bringing back its fried chicken skin.