Exports surge 84%: China's grilled eel exports to Japan hit five-year high
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According to Japanese customs statistics, Japan's imports of processed eel products reached 4,784 tonnes in July 2026, up 84% year on year and the highest for the same month in nearly five years. In the previous four years, the same-month figures were only 3,020 tonnes in 2024, 2,961 tonnes in 2021 and 2,600 tonnes in 2025; July alone was more than 2,100 tonnes above last year's trough. The average import unit price was 1,929 yen/kg, somewhat lower than a year earlier and up 56 yen from the previous month, extending a pattern of rising volumes and stable prices throughout the summer. After the data was disclosed by Japanese industry media in late August, the association channel of China's eel industry confirmed on September 2 that both China's grilled eel exports to Japan and Japan's cumulative eel imports for the eel year had hit five-year highs.
Looking at the longer eel-year timeline (September of the previous year to August of the current year), cumulative imports for the 2026 eel year from September 2025 to July 2026 had already reached 25,418 tonnes, also the highest for the same period in nearly five years and significantly above the full-year totals of 21,112 tonnes in the 2025 eel year and 20,066 tonnes in the 2021 eel year — with the final month of August still to be booked, the cumulative volume had already surpassed the two previous full years. In June, Japan imported 4,649 tonnes of processed eel products from China, up 45% year on year and already a five-year high for the month, compared with only 3,221 tonnes in June 2024 and 3,206 tonnes in June 2025.
The "Doyo no Ushi no Hi" in late July (July 24-26, Japan's traditional summer eel-eating occasion) pushed this wave to its peak. Japanese industry media compiled feedback from multiple retail channels: one store's three-day sales reached 130% of the year-earlier level, a major convenience store chain's channel achieved 120% of last year's level for the full month of July, and several major retail outlets posted results of 117%, 105%, 126%, 121% and 108% respectively, with broad-based gains. In past years, Japanese domestic eel was the main seller at this occasion; this year it was replaced by Chinese product. In late May, a supermarket in Suginami Ward, Tokyo, put Chinese-produced kabayaki eel on the shelf at 998 yen per piece, while comparable Japanese domestic products on the same shelf were generally priced between 1,580 and 1,980 yen, a price gap of more than 60%. The wholesale segment showed a similar gap: the wholesale price of Chinese-produced frozen kabayaki at major Japanese fresh fish company Uoriki was about 2,000 yen/kg in May, with some lots 40% cheaper than a year earlier; its Kyushu-produced domestic frozen eel was wholesaling at about 6,500 yen/kg in mid-May, down only a little over 10% year on year.
Domestic eel prices cannot come down much, given the cost structure. Calculations by the Hamanako Fish Farming Fisheries Cooperative Association show that feed accounts for 30% of farming costs, fry for 30%, and fuel and labor for 40%; catches of anchovy, the raw material for fishmeal used in eel feed, have declined in Peru's main production areas, driving fishmeal prices sharply higher, while fuel and labor costs also remain elevated. The Chinese side is a different story: the 2025 East Asian eel fry harvest was abundant, and China stocked 85 tonnes, eight times the previous year's level; Japan stocked 18.7 tonnes domestically, up 15% from the previous year but still within the annual cap of 21.7 tonnes. With more fry, raw material naturally becomes cheaper once the grow-out cycle passes — Japan's Ministry of Finance trade statistics show that the average import unit price of Chinese-produced kabayaki eel from January to March 2026 was 2,225 yen/kg, down 10% year on year; by July, the overall average import price of Japanese processed eel products had fallen to 1,929 yen/kg.
The information disclosed through association channels on September 2 also provided an anchor for follow-up orders: at a recent information exchange meeting of the Japanese eel import association, the industry widely agreed that Chinese-produced processed eel products still have broad prospects in the Japanese market after autumn — with prices of major fish species such as Pacific saury and autumn chum salmon remaining persistently high, the cost-effectiveness of Chinese-produced grilled eel, moderately priced and stable in quality, is further highlighted, and Japanese traders expect total grilled eel imports for the current eel year to potentially exceed 27,000 tonnes. If realized, that figure would be nearly 30% higher than the 21,112 tonnes of the 2025 eel year. Feedback from the sales side corroborates the data: despite heavy rain in the Kanto region in August, trading showed no decline, downstream grilled eel processors are running at full capacity with tight inventories, and additional orders keep coming in.
On September 7, the Eel Working Committee of the China Fisheries Association released its 70th weekly report on China's eel market: in Fujian, the average pond-side purchase price for American eel (Anguilla rostrata) was 67,000 yuan/tonne for 4P (67 yuan/kg), 57,000 yuan/tonne for 3P, 47,000 yuan/tonne for both 2.5P and 2P, and 46,000 yuan/tonne, 45,000 yuan/tonne and 45,000 yuan/tonne for market-size eel at 1.5P, 1.2P and 1.0P respectively, with no quotes for the 5P size. In Guangdong, Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica) prices were a notch higher: live eel averaged 80,000 yuan/tonne for 5P, 70,000 yuan/tonne for 4P, and 60,000 yuan/tonne for both 3P and 2.5P; grilled eel raw material was 65,000 yuan/tonne for 5P, 55,000 yuan/tonne for 4P, and 50,000 yuan/tonne for both 3P and 2.5P; market-size eel averaged 100,000 yuan/tonne. In terms of size mix, Japanese buyers mainly purchased live eel in the 3P to 4P range this year, supplying grilled eel restaurants directly and partly flowing to grilled eel processing plants; live eel exports have formed four bases in Shanghai, Weihai, Taishan and Fuqing, among which the Shanghai Pudong transit facility is operated by Tianma Technology and, after obtaining outbound aquatic animal transit facility qualification on April 10, specializes in air shipments to Japan.
Data for the final month of the eel year will not be known until October, but the purchasing pace at domestic ponds has already indicated the direction: raw eel procurement by grilled eel plants in Fujian and Guangdong continued into early September without pause, and if the 27,000-tonne target proceeds at the current import pace of more than 2,500 tonnes per month, China's grilled eel will complete a full transformation in the Japanese market from "affordable substitute" to "sales mainstay" when the eel year closes in October.
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