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Giant tuna fetches record price
07/01/2001 18:43 - (SA)
Tokyo - Japan may be suffering from deflation, but prices at Tokyo's world famous fish market are an exception. A single tuna was knocked down for a record 20,2 million yen (174 000 dollars) at the year's first auction on Friday.
The 202-kilogramme (444 pound) blue-fin tuna, caught late last year in the Tsugaru Straits off Aomori, northern Japan, was bought by a middleman at Tokyo's Tsukiji wholesale market, Japan's biggest fish market.
"I just wanted the highest quality tuna," the buyer said. The price - which works out at 100 000 yen a kilogram (45 455 yen a pound) easily surpassed the previous record of 9,4 million yen set in 1995.
In Japan, tuna is mainly used for high-priced sushi.
Some 4 000 tuna fish were sold at the Tsukiji auction, which was crowded with 500 buyers and visitors.
"I hope this momentum will continue for the rest of the year," a market official said. - Sapa-AFP
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