A 276kg bluefin tuna that was auctioned for 207 million Japanese yen (about US$1.3 million)
The top bidder at a Tokyo fish market said they paid US$1.3 million for a tuna on Sunday (Jan 5), the second-highest price ever paid at an annual prestigious new year auction.
Japan’s prestigious Michelin
Japan’s prestigious Michelin-starred sushi restaurant chain Onodera Group said they paid 207 million yen for the 276kg bluefin tuna, roughly the size and weight of a motorbike.
It is the second-highest price paid at the opening auction of the year in Tokyo’s main fish market since comparable data started being collected in 1999.
First tuna is supposed to bring good luck
The bluefin tuna, caught off northern Japan, was sold at a traditional New Year’s tuna auction in Tokyo.”The first tuna is supposed to bring good luck,” Shinji Nagao, general manager of Onodera Food Services, told reporters after the auction.
But the record amount was set in 2019 when Kiyoshi Kimura, the self-proclaimed “tuna king,” paid 333.6 million yen ($2.8 million at the time) for a 278-kilogram (600-pound) fish.
Corrin Lakeland Founder at CME comment that How can a restaurant profit on 250g of tuna for $3k,Buying something like this is a marketing gimmick. It doesn’t need to make sense as a regular operating purchase.
