Calves of “wagyu” beef cattle born in Fukushima Prefecture were put up for auction at a livestock market in Motomiya city on Jan. 13 at the start of this year’s first bidding season, fetching an average price of 743,936 yen per head. The price, representing an increase of 153,489 yen over the same month of last year, was an all-time high for the initial auction of the year. At the two-day auction, sponsored by the prefectural chapter of the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (Zen-Noh), the highest price fetched by a female calf was 999,000 yen while that won by a steer reached 1,063,800 yen. On the first day of the auction, 369 prefectural wagyu calves around 10 months old were auctioned off. Trading prices of wagyu cattle produced in the prefecture, badly affected by the 2011 nuclear accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Daiichi plant, have recovered to national average levels, according to the Zen-Noh group. The day’s average price of successful bids was almost double the level in the 2011 fiscal year that began in April right after the March 11 disaster. “The high marks given to prefectural wagyu calves represent cattle farmers’ strenuous efforts,” a local Zen-Noh official said. “But farmers who grow calves to beef cattle as well as wagyu beef retailers remain in severe situations.”
Calves of “wagyu” beef cattle born in Fukushima Prefecture were put up for auction at a livestock market in Motomiya city on Jan. 13 at the start of this year’s first bidding season, fetching an average price of 743,936 yen per head. The price, representing an increase of 153,489 yen over the same month of last year, was an all-time high for the initial auction of the year. At the two-day auction, sponsored by the prefectural chapter of the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (Zen-Noh), the highest price fetched by a female calf was 999,000 yen while that won by a steer reached 1,063,800 yen. On the first day of the auction, 369 prefectural wagyu calves around 10 months old were auctioned off. Trading prices of wagyu cattle produced in the prefecture, badly affected by the 2011 nuclear accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Daiichi plant, have recovered to national average levels, according to the Zen-Noh group. The day’s average price of successful bids was almost double the level in the 2011 fiscal year that began in April right after the March 11 disaster. “The high marks given to prefectural wagyu calves represent cattle farmers’ strenuous efforts,” a local Zen-Noh official said. “But farmers who grow calves to beef cattle as well as wagyu beef retailers remain in severe situations.”