Japanese trading site finds niche in bycatch

A new seafood trading website was introduced to the trade at the 46th annual Supermarket Trade Show in Tokyo in early February and again at the 9th annual Japan International Seafood & Technology Expo in Osaka later in the month.

The site was co-developed by Osaka-based Syunzai Ltd., a seafood dealer that also operates food sales websites, and Tokyo-based Mitsuiwa Corp., an IT development company. Delivery is arranged using the airline ANA and Yamato Transport Co., Ltd., which provides refrigerated and frozen parcel delivery nationwide.

The service is called SCSS, a shortened form of Syunzai Circulation System Service. It connects buyers directly to fishing cooperatives and local brokers who are the sellers. So far, there are 1,455 registered sellers and 93 registered buyers, who are major retailers and foodservice distributors and brokers. 

It costs JPY 100,000 (USD 1,250) to join, plus JPY 10,500 (USD 131) monthly. The company also takes a 2 percent commission from sellers and 11.5 percent from buyers. The most popular use of the site is in finding a home for non-target small-quantity bycatch for which the seller may have no sales channel.

Fishermen take digital photos or movies of the actual fish as they are landed and post them to the site. Buyers can view and bid on these in real time. There are designated pickup locations for the parcel service at ports around Japan. The product arrives fresher than that which goes through the auction channel. As the sales are recorded electronically, traceability is ensured. The site processes payments, so buyers make a single payment to the site operator, even when they deal with multiple sellers.

In its booth at the Japan International Seafood & Technology Expo, a bed of ice that would normally contain fish instead held many iPad-type displays showing photos and videos of fish for sale and screen shots of the site. Earlier in the week, the service was featured in a widely watched evening news report on innovative new products. The company used a projector to display the segment on a wall of its booth, and many visitors commented that they had seen it on TV.

Project Manager Takeshi Honda from Mitsuiwa said the site is focused on the domestic market for now, but a Chinese language site has been prepared and an English site is in the works. “We are focused on the Japanese market now, but in principal the site is open for import-export trade as well.” Export sales would fall under a separate advance-reservation system.

The development of this system coincides with a decline in the number of traders active at the public auctions. Larger supermarket chains find savings by dealing directly with fisheries cooperatives and processors and have been cutting out the many tiers of traders.

Subscribe

Want seafood news sent to your inbox?

You may unsubscribe from our mailing list at any time. Diversified Communications | 121 Free Street, Portland, ME 04101 | +1 207-842-5500
None