Tuna fetches 36 mil. yen at New Year auction in Tokyo

A bluefin tuna fetched 36.04 million yen ($273,000) on Thursday at the New Year’s auction at Tokyo’s Toyosu fish market, more than double the top price last year, as the restaurant and food industries look to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

The price paid for the 212-kilogram fish caught by a vessel operating out of a port in Oma, Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan, exceeded last year’s top price for a tuna of 16.88 million yen and is the sixth highest since comparable data became available in 1999.

Tokyo-based intermediate wholesaler Yamayuki and the company operating the restaurant...