Bluefin tuna price nosedives in Tokyo

TOKYO: Sushi restaurateur Kiyoshi Kimura has paid 7.36 million yen (RM224,000) for a 230kg bluefin tuna in the year’s celebratory first auction at Tokyo’s Tsukiji market, just 5% of what he paid a year earlier despite signs that the species is in serious decline.

Kimura’s record winning bid last year of 154.4 million yen (RM4.7mil) for a 222kg fish drew complaints that prices had soared way out of line, even for an auction that has always drawn high bids. Kimura also set the previous record of 56.4 million yen (RM1.7mil) at the 2012 auction.