This season¡¯s first batch of saury fetched a record price of ?700,000 ($4,300) per kilogram for some large fish at Tokyo¡¯s Toyosu wholesale market on Friday morning.
The previous record was ?500,000, set two years ago.
The first batch of saury, totaling about 30 kg, was landed at Kushiro Port in Hokkaido on Thursday and arrived at the market the following day.
The largest fish, weighing nearly 170 grams each, sold for as high as about ?120,000 per fish.
¡°They are big and fresh,¡± said Yasuhiro Yamazaki, president of Yamaharu, an intermediate wholesaler that purchased saury from the first batch. ¡°I hope for more catches and for many people to eat (the fish).¡±
Six saury fetched the top price, all purchased by Valor, a supermarket chain based in Gifu Prefecture, from Yamaharu.
Valor plans to sell the saury at a special price of ?10,000 per fish at a store in Yokohama.
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