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The first bluefin tuna auctioned for the year at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo fetched 4.51 million yen (HK$291,000) today, a relatively modest amount in the symbolic annual sale that has previously been marked by spectacular bidding wars involving a Hong Kong sushi chain.
The winning bidder for the 180kg tuna caught off Oma, Aomori Prefecture, was Tokyo-based sushi restaurant chain operator Kiyomura Co. The price works out at about 25,000 yen per kilogram.

Watch: The bluefin tuna from auction to the plate
It was the fourth year in a row that Kiyomura had won the auction.
The price of the first tuna sold last year was 7.36 million yen. But even that was far lower than a record 155.4 million yen Kiyomura paid in 2014.
That huge price was fuelled by a bidding war between Kiyomura and Hong Kong-based rival, the Taste of Japan group, which runs the Itamae Sushi chain.
The Hong Kong chain had teamed up with a Tokyo sushi bar to pay a then-record 32.49 million yen in 2011.
Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura, noted that the overall volume of tuna on the market was greater this year. But “I thought the price could be a little higher,” he said.
The company plans to offer portions of the tuna at its restaurants nationwide.
A market source said this year’s price was somewhat lower than usual and reasonable, adding that the bidding in 2013 was extraordinarily overheated and is unlikely to take place again.


Giant tuna fetches HK$291,000 at Tokyo's new year auction, far short of record

Kiyoshi Kimura displays the 180kg bluefin tuna his company bought for 4.51 million yen. His sushi chain has won the new year auction at Tsukiji fish market for four years running. Photo: AFP

Chain's tuna reign ends as bluefin sells for HK$5.7m

Waves of discontent as customers cash in on record tuna

Bluefin tuna quotas set to rise 20 per cent over three years

Fishing nations failed to back a ban on shark-finning, a practice fuelled by demand in Asia. Photo: AFP

Fishing nations failed to back a ban on shark-finning, a practice fuelled by demand in Asia.Photo: AFP

Bluefin Tuna swimming within the tuna net as it is pulled together in the Mediterranean sea.

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