Is this one of the leading economic indicators used in Japan to determine the health of the economy?
The tuna was sold in auction at the Tsukiji fish market and was the most expensive tuna sold there since a tuna sold for $220,000 back in 2001.
One thing the article mentioned which I am surprised to hear is that 40 percent of the tuna catch sold at the Tsukiji auction was caught from abroad, including from Mexico and Indonesia. I would have thought that there would be very little tuna not caught near Japan being sold at the market.
Can you imagine spending that much money on a fish..... And one you can buy in a supermarket for $2...
ReplyDelete-okay bad comparison .... but still...come on!
honmakaina!!!
It must make some pretty tasty sushi.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've heard, lots of tuna Japan consumes is caught all over the place in the Pacific, flash frozen on the ship and sent to consumers in Japan. The flash freezing is what makes the difference.
ReplyDeleteIN the atlantic, bluefin tuna are getting so overfished, they were thinking about having a moratorium this year, but certain countries protested, so they just put a cap on how could be fished.
I read in the same article (Asahi Shimbun I think) that Japan's overall consumption is actually less since the economy went bad, so the decrease in supply wouldn't affect the average consumer.
I fear that the price trend here reflects the shrinking population of tuna, not the health of Japan's economy. Did I read somewhere that 65% of tuna caught in the Mediterranean end up on Japanese kaiten-sushi plates? Something like that ....
ReplyDeleteBoth good points. It is probably true that due to shrinking stocks the price will continue to rise.
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling that a lot of the price of this fish is driven by its size and the perceived quality of the meat. I doubt this will be sold at a revolving sushi joint. I'm guessing this puppy is headed for a specialty joint where the sushi is eaten off someone's body, or the like.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise my can of tuna fish would cost somewhere around $1000.
The buyers must be pretty damn good.
ReplyDelete