UNAGI is one of the most popular items in Japanese cuisine; it seems to be on the menu of many restaurants specialising in food from the Land of the Rising Sun.
As such, it would be fair to state that the cost of the raw material – eels – can fetch a premium price due to the sheer level of demand. It has been said that at one point in 2023, they were sold at over RM20,000 per kilogramme. Is there any truth to this?
VERDICT:
TRUE
Yes, this is true as baby eels recorded a price of at least US$2,000 per pound in May 2023, according to an article published in Fortune magazine.
This supply is important as eel farms need the raw stock which is grown to a size which can be sold to the market and subsequently turned into unagi dishes loved around the world.
The article stated that fishermen in Maine – the main US state where catching baby eels, or elvers, is legal – were selling their eels for such a price then due to the depletion of other sources around the world, generally because of overfishing.
This was confirmed by former Maine state representative and Maine Elver Fishermen Association advisor Jeffrey K. Pierce, as quoted by Fortune.
"There's a huge demand. They're not getting a lot out of Europe and it's just a great product," said Pierce.
Given that the exchange rate around the time of the May 27 article was RM4.60 to US$1 and factoring in that one kilogramme is about 2.2 pounds, a kilogramme of elvers would cost RM20,282.50 at the time.
So yes, that unagi is more expensive than one might think.
SOURCES:
https://fortune.com/2023/05/
https://www.exchange-rates.
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