Giant tuna auctioned in China for the price of a new car
Unidentified buyer, a restaurateur, plans to offer Japanese fish ‘as a treat’ to faithful patrons
A tuna from Nagasaki, Japan, has been sold at an auction for the price of a car in the eastern Chinese city of Fuzhou, in Fujian province, according to an official media report.
The giant fish, weighing more than 100kg, was bought by a local restaurant owner for more than 260,000 yuan (HK$308,000) after 29 rounds of “intensive bidding”, the China News Services reported on Friday.
The cost per kilogram was almost double the market price, and the total sum paid could buy a brand-new Toyota Crown sedan on the mainland.
But the unidentified buyer was satisfied with the deal, saying that most tuna sold at Chinese seafood markets was farmed, while the Japanese tuna was a more a natural product.
The buyer said the tuna would be divided and served up to old customers of the restaurant.
The auction was a sideline event of a week-long international fishery exhibition launched by the Chinese government on Friday to promote its Marine Silk Road initiative, a national project to rebuild China as a centre of maritime trade and commerce.
Fishery officials, diplomats and companies from more than 30 countries attended the exhibition to showcase more than 5,000 fishery products.
