As China’s foodservice sector gets back to business, bluefin tuna is emerging as a new favorite in the marketplace.
As one offshoot of the trend, reopening restaurants are using “fish-opening” ceremonies featuring bluefin tuna to draw in new business. One such ceremony was held 5 June, at the Nadaman Japanese-style restaurant at the China World Hotel in Beijing’s business district. Advertisements touting the event promised a Japanese master-chef making sashimi cuts to offer to customers. Similar offerings listed on Chinese social media platforms like Weibo suggest dozens of such ceremonies are planned for this month at Japanese restaurants across China.
Seafood traders in China have experienced a growing demand for bluefin tuna in China, Ken Chen, a Hong Kong-based trader told SeafoodSource. Chen’s firm imports bluefin to Guangzhou, supplying restaurants through smaller local wholesalers.
“Bluefin tuna [demand] is crazy at the moment,” Chen told SeafoodSource. “There is crazy competition in the China wholesale market. I can import 20 pieces [of bluefin] per week. I got a message from our competitor yesterday shown pictures and prices that 15- to 20-kilogram [fish] are selling at CNY 58 [USD 8.12, EUR 7.54] per kilo, 20- to 25-kilogram [fish] at CNY 65 (USD 9.14, EUR 8.07), and 25- to 30-kilogram [fish] for CNY 68 [USD 9.56, EUR 8.44].”
While demand for tuna has leveled off in its traditional stronghold of Japan, demand in China is soaring, in part due to the rising popularity of Japanese-style dining.
Tuna has become the new salmon, seafood marketing specialist Fan Xubing told SeafoodSource. He pointed to a trend of fresh tuna replacing fresh Atlantic salmon starting in 2018, following a controversy over “fake” salmon (domestically farmed Chinese trout) which he said “ruined” the reputation of imported Atlantic salmon.
“Imported Atlantic salmon price becomes more and more expensive, and hence this reduced the market demand. Bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna import price has become more and more cheap since 2019," Fan said. "Japanese restaurants in China are looking for new material. Fresh tuna demand increasing very fast and most fresh tuna are consumed in Japanese-style restaurants to replace fresh farmed salmon.”
Better political relations, a weaker Japanese yen, and protests in Hong Kong have combined to make Japan the favorite destination for Chinese tourists traveling abroad for the past three years, with a resulting saturation coverage of Japanese tuna auctions and cutting ceremonies in turn propelling demand for bluefin tuna in China.
The number of Japanese-style restaurants in mainland China has surged from 10,600 at the end of 2016 to 40,800 in early 2018, according to data from the Japanese External Trade Organization (JETRO).
Even allowing for significant mislabeling, the rise of sashimi-style Japanese dining in the brand-conscious Chinese market is likely to put additional pressure on the three bluefin subspecies – Pacific, Atlantic, and Southern – which are classified as vulnerable, endangered, and critically endangered, respectively, by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Southern bluefin tuna occur throughout the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans and reach reproductive maturity at 11 to 12 years of age.
The international Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna is made up of six participating member-countries, including Australia and Japan, which each have the largest total allowable catch as set by the commission, at approximately 6,000 metric tons each in the period 2018 to 2020.
Image courtesy of Nadaman Restaurant Group
