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saltesc t1_j0juevw wrote

Reply to comment by the_fickle_pickle in Historic ban on shark fin trade poised to become U.S. law by AmethystOrator

Some Asian countries have a really weird concept on luxury items. A lot of what we consider low quality or poor in Australia, a market somewhere else in APAC considers it luxury.

For a while, we were making $1.2B a year off China, dumping cheap wine we wouldn't even sell here. For some reason, wine from Australia was considered luxurious, regardless of the quality or taste, so it was basically free money. It took a while but the market matured and now the trend's gone and quite worthless, around $200M.

A single tuna recently sold in Japan for $3.1M USD. I find it funny considering it's a cheap ingredient that got me through my poor student years and it's one we put in 80¢ tinned cat food.

Now there's a huge trend to show off wealth more than ever, so brands like LV and Gucci are getting a lot of success in Asia whereas here the market's matured to see them representative of a person's social insecurity or financial asinity, so their revenue has tumbled. I think Gucci is down something like 55% since 2018, but recent success in Asia keeps them very relevant globally.

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joe579003 t1_j0k2tto wrote

Are you really comparing prime Bluefin to the shit Yellowfin from cans you survived college with?

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3859160912653957 t1_j0k42p7 wrote

I was going to ask if that 3.1 million tuna was from the first catch of the season or something, because that happens in Sweden to a lesser degree, but yeah, could be a specific kind of tuna too.

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saltesc t1_j0no61v wrote

Yes. Has fins, swims, same genus. Quality difference is $8K/kg wholesale in Japan right now. It's like grabbing an M10+ steak for a couple hundred bucks. If payment is part of the rush that makes you feel special, you'll likely hold it in much higher regard than someone who eats it objectively.

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RollForThings t1_j0jx1b3 wrote

>A single tuna recently sold in Japan for $3.1M USD. I find it funny considering it's a cheap ingredient that got me through my poor student years and it's one we put in 80¢ tinned cat food.

3 million is a bit much and the buyer even acknowledged this, buy bluefin sashimi makes these fish quite pricey. Tuna aren't just cheap tinned food

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frozenedge t1_j0jyqxq wrote

I'm fairly certain I heard something about the very first tuna sold at the start of the season when the market opens is supposed to bring good luck for the rest of the season depending on the size of the catch, and people will spend huge sums of money on these tunas as it's a rather significant event.

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