The live and processed eel market is off slightly, forcing hard-pressed specialty shops to closing amid shortage.
Glass eel imports to Japan peaked in 2010, while total import value peaked the following year. This year, the live and processed eel market is off slightly — though not enough to provide relief to hard-pressed specialty shops — and glass eel prices are reaching new highs on lower volume.
Japan’s Fisheries Agency reported that from December 2012 through May 2013, import volumes of glass eels used for aquaculture in Japan fell by 21 percent from the previous year to 12.6 metric tons (MT). Domestic glass eels account for 42 percent of the supply at 5.2 MT. Imports — mainly from China — increased by 7 percent to 7.4 MT.
The average transaction price for the season was 15 percent higher year-on-year at JPY 2.48 million (USD 23,833/ EUR 19,057) per kilogram, three times the price of two years ago.
Ushi-no-doyo-no-hi, or “Ox day of the change of season,” is the peak day for eel consumption in Japan, the world’s largest market for eels. This year the day fell on 22 July. Doyo refers to the 18 days before a change of season. The days are named with the 12 signs of the zodiac and so one, and sometimes two, of the days are given the name “ushi” (ox).
The Japanese custom of eating eel at the onset of summer is credited to an eel shop in Edo in the mid-1700s. Enjoying alliteration, the Japanese liked to eat a food that begins with the letter corresponding to the day. The shop advertised, “Today is the day of ushi, eat unagi!” and the dish has been popular ever since. Japan consumes approximately 70 percent of the global eel catch.
The price of live eels in April was JPY 3,400 (USD 34.83, EUR 26.13) to JPY 3,500 (USD 35.86, EUR 26.90) per kilogram, but has risen about 15 percent from the start of June. Last year, the trend was the opposite, with a spike of around JPY 4,500 (USD 46.10, EUR 34.59) per kilogram in April, then falling to JPY 3,518 (USD 36.04/EUR 27.03) to JPY 4,243 (USD 44.47, EUR 32.61) in June as Chinese product came in.
The high costs have put the squeeze on specialty eel “kabayaki” restaurants and many are closing. Over 40 percent of cultured eels are produced worldwide for the Japanese kabayaki market.
Kabayaki shops have had to increase prices sharply over the last couple of years, to JPY 2,500 (USD 24.83, EUR 19.21) to JPY 3,000 (USD 29.79, EUR 23.05) per serving while reducing serving sizes, but at this price they can neither earn a profit nor attract enough customers to stay in business. Consumption at such shops has fallen by 30 to 40 percent year-on-year. A federation of kabayaki eel specialty shops reports that while there were 130 unagi restaurants in Tokyo in 2003, the number has fallen in the last decade to 95.
Supermarkets likewise are selling less eel. Instead, beef bowl restaurants and convenience stores are continuing the tradition. They can afford to offer the dish as a loss leader to increase store traffic and sell other items.
Eels of a particular species breed in a single breeding ground and are then dispersed to estuaries randomly by ocean currents. Thus, overfishing in a single river or even country will not prevent new recruitment, as long as other habitats are available. Still, due to aggressive glass eel harvesting, pollution, disease and damming of rivers across their range, declining eel populations are a concern.
European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is listed in Annex II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which puts hard restrictions on trade in the species outside of the EU.
In February, the Japanese species (Anguilla japonica) was placed on the Japanese Environment Ministry’s “red list” of species at risk of extinction. However, fishing and trading are unaffected, as the listing is only meant to draw attention to the need for measures to preserve stocks.
The United States has considered a similar move in response to petitions from environmental groups, but has so far allowed glass eel harvesting to continue only in Maine and South Carolina. The high demand and short supply has made them Maine’s second-most valuable catch after lobster, peaking this spring at around USD 1,700 (EUR 1,276) a pound.
