YAMAGATA, Japan (Bernama-Kyodo): Premium "Sato Nishiki” cherries from the north-eastern Japanese prefecture of Yamagata fetched record prices at the year’s first auctions on Monday, including 1.8 million yen (US$11,500) for a box at a Tokyo market, or more than 26,000 yen per cherry, Kyodo News Agency reported.
An auction in the city of Tendo in Yamagata, Japan’s main cherry-producing prefecture, also sold a 68-cherry box for a record 1.55 million yen.
Cherries typically peak in early summer, but growers have brought forward the harvest using "ultra-forced” cultivation, which chills trees to simulate winter before keeping them in greenhouses.
Kenichi Mannen, deputy sales manager at JA Tendo Foods, which won the top bid in Tendo, said: "I heard management was tough this year due to unstable weather, and we want to work hard to deliver products that make customers happy.”
JA Tendo Foods plans to sell the cherries online. -- Bernama-Kyodo
