Luxury fruit: Man pays record US$11,000 for a bunch of Ruby Roman grapes

A bunch of Ruby Roman table grapes fetched a record-high 1.1 million yen (US$10,900) on Thursday in the year’s first auction at a wholesale market in the central Japanese city of Kanazawa, up from one million yen marked last ysear.

Of the 46 Ruby Roman bunches auctioned off at the market in Ishikawa Prefecture, the highest priced went to a supermarket in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, which also paid a record three million yen for a pair of Yubari melons in Sapporo, Hokkaido, in May.

“I am very much honoured,” said the successful bidder Takamaru Konishi, 37, a buyer at the supermarket, Kurashi Kaientai, adding he hopes it would be heartening news for farmers in Ishikawa Prefecture.

The pricey bunch of grapes will be put on display at the store and given out to shoppers for free, he said.