Office worker Kim Min-a, 33, said she was startled recently when she tried to order yellowtail at her regular sashimi restaurant in Gwanak District, Seoul. The price for a large yellowtail platter for one to two people had risen to 58,000 won. Kim said, "I ate it for 40,000 won at the same restaurant last year, but it's gotten too expensive," adding, "I bought a 28,000 won assorted sashimi of flatfish and rockfish instead of yellowtail."
The wholesale price of yellowtail (魴魚), considered a representative winter fish, has risen 60% over the past year. According to price trends from the Noryangjin Fish Market of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives on Dec. 13, the auction winning price for 1 kilogram of yellowtail in the first week of December (1st–6th) was tallied at 26,600 won. Red sea bream, which is often eaten in winter, at 18,300–20,200 won, was similar to last year, and flatfish, a year-round steady seller, at 10,400–20,000 won, actually fell in price, but yellowtail alone jumped sharply.
The rise in yellowtail prices stems from three overlapping factors: the younger generation's "preference for winter yellowtail," "disruptions in wild-caught supply due to winter high seas," and "higher prices for farmed fry." Yellowtail is broadly divided into wild-caught (East Sea and Jeju), farmed (South Sea), and imported (from Japan). In supply volume, wild-caught accounts for 51%, imports 42%, and farmed 7%.
① "Open-run to eat yellowtail"… surging popularity of yellowtail
The biggest factor in the price increase is a surge in demand. Yellowtail becomes fattier ahead of spawning in winter, giving it a rich, oily taste. There was a time when people shunned it for being too oily, but now it has become a "must-eat winter food" picked by Millennials and Gen Z. On Instagram, there are more than 280,000 posts tagged with yellowtail.
The popularity of yellowtail also shows up in big-box stores' performance. Emart's yellowtail sales from the 1st to the 10th of this month jumped 521% from a year earlier, and Lotte Mart saw sales for the same period over the past three years increase an average of 138% annually. An Emart official said, "Yellowtail is the winter marquee product of the seafood corner," adding, "Products for one to two people sell well, and three to four-person products, composed as assorted sashimi with other fish, also sell out."
② Gale warnings every two to three days… yellowtail catches aren't easy
The price rise also reflects poor wild-catch landings, which account for more than half of supply, due to frequent gales lately. According to the Korea meteorological Administration, gale warnings were issued every two to three days in waters off Jeju, Gangwon, and South Gyeongsang from mid-November. An official at the Mosulpo Fisheries Cooperative in Jeju said, "We can't go out three days a week," adding, "Even during the Jeju Yellowtail Festival held Nov. 20–23, supply was tight."
③ With yellowtail's popularity, fry prices also "shoot up"
Rising prices for yellowtail fry for aquaculture are also having an effect. Farmed yellowtail is mainly produced with a "holding method," in which juvenile yellowtail are purchased and raised in net pens near Tongyeong. An official at a fisheries cooperative in South Gyeongsang said, "When rockfish suffered mass die-offs last year due to abnormal temperatures, some fish farmers switched to yellowtail," adding, "As a result, competition to secure fry drove up fry prices, which appears to be affecting yellowtail prices as well."