Mass Death of Oysters in Japan Strains Restaurants, Retailers

Tokyo, Dec. 2 (Jiji Press)–The mass death of farm-raised oysters in the Seto Inland Sea in western Japan has left restaurants and retailers feeling queasy as the high season for various oyster dishes such as “nabe” hot pots has arrived. Oysters’ wholesale prices have soared due to the extreme shortage, forcing those businesses to pass on the higher costs to customers. “Our business is tough even after we hiked prices,” said Masao Iwami, the owner of a Japanese restaurant in Tokyo. Maximum wholesale prices for peeled oysters rose by almost 10 pct in November from a year before to nearly 6,500 yen per kilogram at the Toyosu fish market in the Japanese capital. Iwami has increased the price of a fried oyster lunch set meal by more than 100 yen from about 1,300 yen. Still, “It won’t pay off,” he said. He has reduced the number of oyster set meals to around five a day. “It can’t be helped,” a male customer, 58, said while complaining that “lower prices would be better.” Colowide Co., a restaurant chain operator, sources oysters mainly from the western prefecture of Hiroshima. While the company has secured oysters for this year, prospects for next year’s supplies are uncertain. “We’re groping in the dark,” a Colowide official said. Supermarket chain Aeon Retail Co. has reduced the net weight of oysters as ingredients while keeping their sales price unchanged. “We’ll work to maintain stable oyster supplies by procuring oysters from several production sites,” said an official at Ito-Yokado Co., another supermarket chain. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]