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Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – How many tangerine oranges can you buy for a million yen, or about $ 9,600? For an amateur fruit buyer, at this week’s auction in Japan, the answer is only 100.
A box, weighing 20 kilograms and made of 100 kernels of mandarin oranges, also known as “Mecan”, entered the auction yard on Thursday at the Ota Wholesale Market in central Tokyo.
This was the first auction this year for Satsuma tangerine orange, a popular type of citrus from Ehime Prefecture on Shikoku Island in southern Japan.
Nishiwa region is one of the “Mecan” production areas in Ehime prefecture.
The semi-seedless citrus varieties of oranges are known for their good balance of rich and sweet flavors, as they are easy to peel and melt in your mouth.
According to the Nishiwa Agricultural Association, the higher bid at Thursday’s auction reflected a “very festive price” to herald the start of the Japanese Mecan season.
“Since the quality of seasonal fruit is assessed at the first auction, this will have a major impact on sales afterwards. The first auction is important for the fruit industry,” Shane Aasai says, from JA Nishua’s sales division.
The regular price for this premium tangerine is 7,800 yen, or $ 75, for 10 kilograms.
This was not the first time that sweet tangerine has fetched such an incredible price at an auction, as last year’s highest bid was in the order of 1 million.
“But given the negative impact on the economy of Covid-19, we were also surprised and happy to auction it for one million yen,” Asay says.
Only about ten farmers can produce this particular type of “Mecan” orange in the region.
Japan has been known to produce sweet and precious fruits for years. Last year, 24 bunches of ruby grapes were auctioned for 1.2 million Japanese yen, or $ 11,000.
“Fruits are treated differently in Asian culture and in Japanese society in particular,” Soyeon Shim, dean of the College of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told CNN in 2019.
Mandarin is one of the most popular fruits in Japan.
According to a report by the Japanese Statistical Office in 2019, mandarin was among the most productive fruits in the country, in 2016 and 2017.
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