TOKYO - Japan will begin trial sales of the world’s first fully farmed eels for consumers on May 29th, marking a major milestone for the aquaculture industry as domestic eel prices have already fallen by about 40% from a year earlier.
The so-called "fully farmed eel" refers to eels raised entirely by human intervention from egg to adulthood, unlike conventional farmed eel production, which relies on capturing wild juvenile glass eels known as "shirasu unagi" before raising them in captivity.
The trial sales, priced at 4,860 yen per eel, will begin at 10 a.m. on May 29th through Aeon Group’s online shopping platform and at locations including Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Main Store. Quantities are limited and sales will end once stock runs out.
Aeon and eel producer Yamada Suisan plan to conduct surveys on taste and pricing as they seek broader commercialization in the future.
The achievement comes after decades of research into eel breeding, an area long considered difficult because much of the eel’s life cycle remains poorly understood.
About 20 years ago, researchers were only able to raise between 10 and 100 eels annually. Before reaching the glass eel stage, larvae required feeding five times a day at two-hour intervals, while tanks had to be cleaned daily, pushing production costs per eel into the hundreds of thousands or even millions of yen.
Advances in feed development, automated feeding systems, and mass-production tank technology have since improved efficiency dramatically. Researchers can now raise around 10,000 eels annually, while production costs have reportedly fallen to about 1,800 yen per fish.
Industry observers say prices could decline further if mass production becomes viable.
Meanwhile, conventional eel prices have also been falling sharply due to strong catches of wild juvenile eels.
According to the Fisheries Agency, imported products accounted for about 73% of Japan’s eel supply in 2024, while more than 99% of processed eel products such as kabayaki were imported from China.
The wholesale price of processed Chinese eel products has fallen roughly 20% year-on-year, declining from 2,360 yen per kilogram in 2025 to 1,919 yen in 2026.
Shinya Matsuura, chairman of the Japan Eel Importers Association, said the decline was driven by the largest glass eel catch in 19 years last year, with those fish now reaching the market. Lower fuel and labor costs in countries such as China have also helped reduce prices.
Domestic eel prices have dropped even more sharply, falling about 40% from the same period last year.
Wholesale prices for domestic eel fell from 5,307 yen in April 2025 to 2,983 yen in April 2026.
Kengo Matsumoto, representative of eel wholesaler Unagi Donya Matsumoto, said bumper catches of glass eels over two consecutive years beginning in December 2024 had increased supply, driving wholesale prices down by 30% to 40%.
Matsumoto added that because summer is the peak sales season for eel restaurants, retail prices at restaurants may begin falling around September.
He also noted that if fully farmed eel production becomes widespread, the price of a domestically produced unaju meal could potentially fall from the current 4,000-yen range to around 2,000 yen, although existing eel farmers could face significant pressure as a result.
Source: TBS
