Bonito tuna prices were around JPY 1700 (USD 14.09, EUR 12.43) per kilogram at Tokyo’s Tsukiji market in the first week of September, about 20 percent off the same period last year. Fatty bonito have returned to northern Japan’s waters earlier than usual, due to higher water temperatures presumably connected with global warming.
Bonito move to the northern Pacific in the spring, returning south in autumn much fattier. The main ports of landing are currently in Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures in northeastern Honshu Island. Daily auction volumes are at around 50 metric tons, double that of a year ago. Besides being used in sashimi, bonito is used to make katsuo tataki, seared on the outside, but still raw on the inside.
Fresh domestic bluefin from Kyushu Island’s Oita Prefecture sold at an average price of JPY 3,240 (USD 26.85, EUR 23.69) per kg at the end of August, while product from Aomori Prefecture fetched an average price of JPY 6,667 (USD 55.26, EUR 48.75). Aomori is famous for large fatty tuna. Frozen product, imported and domestic, ranged widely from JPY 2,592 (USD 21.48, EUR 18.95) to 6,248 (USD 51.78, EUR 45.68).
Conservationists were disappointed that a Sapporo meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) concluded on 3 September without tightening catch limits on bluefin. The increase in farmed tuna, including closed-cycle breeding, may be giving the Japanese public the impression that the crisis for bluefin has passed.
High prices for southern bluefin were JPY 4,860 (USD 40.28, EUR 35.53) for fresh and JPY 4,536 (USD 37.59, EUR 33.16) for frozen.
Fresh bigeye from Okinawa sold at an average of JPY 2,178 (USD 18.05, 15.92 EUR) per kg, while imports ranged from JPY 1,620 (USD 13.42, EUR 11.84) to 2,700 (USD 22.37, EUR 19.74). Frozen bigeye, imported and domestic, ranged from JPY 670 (USD 5.55, EUR 4.89) to 2,700 (USD 22.37, EUR 19.74).
Skipjack sold at Tsukiji in mid-August at a high of JPY 1500 per kg.
Fresh yellowfin from Kyushu Island’s Miyazaki Prefecture sold for JPY 457 (USD 3.78, EUR 3.34) per kg, while frozen product, imported and domestic, ranged from JPY 648 (USD 5.37, EUR 4.73) to 864 (USD 7.16, EUR 6.31).
Sources of imported yellowtail in the period included Indonesia, Guam, Thailand, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Sri Lanka and Palau. The higher prices for frozen product may be due to larger sizes. Foreign sources for Japan’s yellowfin and skipjack have been shifting from Thailand and the Philippines to the Pacific island nations including PNG.
The Philippines has an opportunity to increase exports to the EU, and more product may find its way there instead of to Japan, as tuna from the Philippines can enter the EU duty free since a December revision of the EU’s Generalized System of Preferences Plus scheme. However, lack of resources may hold it back. General Santos City, the tuna capital of the Philippines, is suffering a 25 percent decline in tuna landings. The country is hoping negotiate greater access to the resources of nearby countries, such as Palau, PNG and Indonesia.
PNG has had a recent surge in foreign-capital processing capacity. An Interim Economic Partnership Agreement between the EU and PNG allows for tariff-free imports of PNG tuna, making investment attractive. However, in June 2014, the EU issued a warning to PNG that it may block tuna imports due to overfishing and failure to control IUU fishing. Japan presents an alternative market should that threat be realized.
