2013 Volume 53 Issue 1-2 Pages 75-107
In recent years, more strict management measures led to the reduction in the catch of frozen tuna. Moreover, the increased demand for sashimi from other countries decrease the volume of imports of fresh tuna to the Japanese markets. Therefore, fresh tuna supplied from domestic vessels in Japan’s EEZ is becoming more significant in the Japanese tuna markets than before. However, the distribution structure for the fresh tuna supplied by the domestic vessels was not so clear in previous researches. This study aimed at i) identifying the distribution structure for fresh tuna at production wholesale markets and ii) identify the key factors in the modern distribution structure of fresh tuna and iii) discussing about the ideal distribution structure of fresh tuna in the future. The fresh yellowfin tuna were chosen as the representative specie for tuna for this study. Three of the major production-site wholesale markets in Japan were chosen for this study were Katsu-ura, Aburatsu and Kagoshima Wholesale Market.
The main finding of this research is that one of the key factors for the ideal form of distribution structure of fresh yellowfin tuna is the processing function. Including the processing function in the fresh yellowfin tuna distribution structure creates a more modern distribution model which enables the direct distribution from production sites to consuming areas, especially to supermarkets. In the future, the supermarket’s influence will increase, thus their demand for processed fresh yellowfin tuna will also increase.
Due to the fast deterioration rate of processed fresh tuna products, production-site with processing facilities has to be within the vicinity of the consuming areas. This research also found that the processing facilities should be located near the consuming areas. PWMs in remote areas, on the other hand, should consider incorporating a processing function into their fresh tuna distribution structure with processing companies in consuming area.
