碩士 / 國立臺灣海洋大學 / 應用經濟研究所 / 95 / Japan is the only importer of frozen tuna from Taiwanese super low temperature tuna fishing fleet. Taiwanese transport vessels transfer tuna at the high sea or ports and then sail directly to Japan without thinking about anywhere else they may go, because there are no other sashimi markets like those in Japan with an annual consumption of 470,000 metric tons.
The export of farmed bluefin tuna, started in 1990, has been expanding for the last 15 years and has now reached a level that is not negligible. The market is dominated by buyers with huge capital who buy the cargo of the entire ship at a negotiated price. Basically, the buyers possess some monopsonistic power. Led by Japan Tuna & Skipjack Association, Japanese tuna shipowners are trying to build an alternative marketing route by calling tender to fight the whole-ship buyers and break their price leadership. Supermarkets were able to package and sell tuna products at the low prices due to their large volume of sales. The farmed bluefin tuna becomes the most popular item in supermarkets, and its supply regularity makes it a targeted item by consumers. The conveyor belt sushi (kaitenzushi) started the 100 yen per dish sushi in 1993 and developed further into higher quality restaurants (such as osushiya) in 2002 have produced the fourth boom in Japan’s domestic restaurant market.
This study finds, during the long term recession following the burst of economic bubbles and under the background of reduced income level and diversification in consumption, wild captured tuna has been replaced by other kinds of sea foods and imported meat. The supermarkets prefer to sell the farmed bluefin tuna because of its stability in supply and price. This makes tuna drop from the high class consumer item to a regular one, impacting the prices of wild frozen bigeye and yellowfin tuna. The whole-ship buyers investing in the processing factory, the development of the frozen farmed bluefin tuna and the growth of super low temperature container ships have all contributed to the low tuna market price.
Tuna is one of the most popular sashimi in Japan and Taiwan is the biggest supplier. We find the sashimi market in Japan is a monopolistic one. The suppliers have no other choice but to sell their catch to Japan. It is a buyers’ market in which normal law of demand and supply may not prevail. Suppliers even by reducing the quantity supplied may fail to secure a higher price. Some Japanese fishers try to sell their products by tender and by doing some processing work on board to increase their revenue. For Taiwanese fishers, these are the practice and experience worth learning.
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| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TW/095NTOU5452004 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Chih-Wen Chang, 張志文 |
| Contributors | 孫金華 |
| Source Sets | National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations in Taiwan |
| Language | zh-TW |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | 學位論文 ; thesis |
| Format | 94 |
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