Japanese seaweed yields have fallen significantly, while global demand for them is increasing due to the rapid popularity of Japanese cuisine. This leads to a sharp increase in prices, which negatively affects households and restaurants in Japan. Writes UNN with reference to Nikkei Asia.
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Japanese wakame seaweed yields are at a historically low level, driven by increased global demand for Japanese cuisine, which has led to skyrocketing prices and losses for households and restaurants.
More than 70% of wakame in Japan is produced in the coastal region of Sanriku in the north-east of the country. This year, production reached its lowest level since records began in 1977, with the exception of 2011, when the region was destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami.
High-quality wakame is harvested in Sanrika from February to May. This year, production in the Iwate and Miyagi regions decreased by 30%, reaching approximately 14,000 tons, while production in Miyagi halved. The reason for this decline was severe storms in the period from January to march, which damaged young wakame shoots and complicated their growing conditions.
We postponed the start of cultivation due to the high sea temperature, which lasted from autumn. As soon as the buds grew, they were washed away by a storm
According to local office JF Zengyoren of the National Federation of fisheries cooperatives, the current average price for boiled wakame is 2,479 yen (1 16) per kilogram, up 54% from last year. The price of dried and fresh wakame also rose 48%, reaching a record high since 1977.
Due to shortages and high prices, Riken Vitamin has announced an 18.5% price increase for five of its wakame-related products since August. Other major wakame producers are also warning their customers, such as miso soup producers and soba restaurants, about potential price increases.
Prices are also rising for imported seaweed, which is used in the production of instant noodles and rice flavoring mixes, partly due to the weakness of the yen. Prices for dried seaweed from China rose 5% in the first quarter of the year, while frozen seaweed from South Korea and China rose 15%.
Nori, a dried seaweed that is key to the production of sushi and rice balls, has also suffered from crop deterioration over the past two years. Rising sea temperatures and red tides in the Ariake Sea, an important manufacturing region near Kyushu, are making algae growth more difficult.
The national harvest this year was 4.9 billion sheets, one of the lowest in the last fifty years and not enough to cover domestic demand, which is between 7.5 and 8 billion sheets per year.
Daisuke Fujita, chairman of the Japan seaweed Association, points to rising sea temperatures as the main reason for the decline in production. He notes that higher temperatures lead to a lack of nutrients and increased harm from fish. algae, which absorb CO2 from seawater, is home to fish and shellfish and is important for the ecosystem. Fujita suggests developing varieties of algae that are resistant to higher temperatures, or methods for growing them on the ground.
recall
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