TOKYO - The top-selling tuna at Tokyo’s traditional New Year auction sold for more than 36.04 million yen (S$365,000) on Thursday, nearly double last year’s price, breaking a pandemic trend of slumping demand.

Michelin-starred sushi restaurant Onodera Group and Japanese wholesaler Yamayuki splashed out on the 212kg bluefin tuna caught off Oma in the northern Aomori prefecture in the auction at Tokyo’s Toyosu fish market.

At 170,000 yen per kg, it was more than twice the value of the first sale of the previous year, according to an official at Toyosu. Oma’s bluefin tuna are known as “black diamonds” due to their high value.  

The figure was still only a fraction of the 2019 record price but marks a recovery for the symbolic auction after three years in which prices slumped.

“It has all the qualities of a good tuna,” sushi master and Onodera head chef Akifumi Sakagami told reporters after the auction.

“We have had years of gloom (during the pandemic). I hope that we can deliver happiness to everyone by using opportunities like this.”

Last year’s top-selling tuna, bought by the same pair of bidders, went for just 16.88 million yen, with observers blaming subdued demand as a Covid-19 wave ripped through Japan in early 2022.

The New Year auction is highly anticipated, and securing the top-priced tuna offers bidders bragging rights.

For years, the top bid came from self-proclaimed “Tuna King” Kiyoshi Kimura, who paid a record US$3.1 million (S$4.16 million) in 2019.

But in recent years, Mr Kimura has held back, citing the pandemic. AFP