Chuo Gyorui is a specialized trading company handling about 500 categories and 2,000 items of seafood varying from premium fish such as tuna,globefish,and uni(sea urchin roe),to popular fish such as horse mackerel and mackerel pike and processed products such as kamaboko(fish cakes)and chikuwa(fish sticks).
Naturally,each type of product has different suppliers and buyers coupled with varying supply and demand.
This explains why Chuo Gyorui has many different divisions, each of which is specialized in handling the kaleidoscope of possible permutations and choices.
Employees of each department and section have special skills. For example,the employees in the Tuna Department must have a worldwide knowledge of different tuna species and qualities as well as sales skills at auction.
The Restaurant Fish Department must understand popular fish selling well in the domestic market,while the Processed Products Section may be engaged in developing new commodities in cooperation with food processing companies.
Consequently,the professionals in each division of Chuo Gyorui are well versed in the markets for marine products.
œFresh Fish Departmentœ
Critical Freshness
The main operation of this department is to collect and wholesale ordinary fresh fish landed from home and abroad.Attention to detail is paramount in maintaining freshness.
The main products are sardines, horse mackerel, mackerel pike, yellowtail, bonito, sea bream, flounder, octopus, squid, young yellowtail, Spanish mackerel, etc.
œFrozen Fish Departmentœ
Collecting Frozen Fish
This department collects and wholesales ordinary frozen fish and imported fish frozen at sea. It deals in a wide variety of fish, such as salmon, flatfish, crabs, squid, octopus, cod, herring black cod, sea bream, materials for minced fish meat, etc.
œRestaurant Fish Departmentœ
Treasury of High-Quality Fish
This department collects and wholesales ordinary fish and premium fish and shellfish landed at home and abroad. It deals in live fish such as yellowtail, sea bream, amberjack etc. globefish, ark shells, scallops, abalone, oysters, sea urchins, etc. In recent years, demand grows especially.
The demand for such live fish in particular has been growing in recent years. The other main items in addition to above are globefish, ark shells, scallops, abalone, oysters,eels, dungeness crabs, king crabs, snow crabs, freshwater fish, etc.
œTuna Departmentœ
The Thrill of Action
This department mainly collects and wholesales different tuna species. Since tuna fishing grounds are distributed worldwide, good information-gathering skills are a must. In the Japanese tuna market, prices are mostly determined by auction, so sales skills at aucion are indispensable. A skilled auctioneer can sell 200 fish in just 30 minutes. The main items are southern bluefin tuna, bluefin tuna, big-eye tuna, yellowfin tuna, striped marlin, and swordfish, etc.
œSalted Frozen Fish Departmentœ
Traditional Foods
This department collects and wholesales salted and ordinary frozen fish produced both at home and abroad.Recently, it has created interest by handling farmed salmon and trout on consignment from overseas.
The main items are salted salmon, salted trout, salted herring roe, salted salmon roe, dried herring, frozen squid, frozen mackerel, frozen mackerel pike, farmed salmon, frozen sablefish, etc.
œShrimp Departmentœ
Dealing in World's Shrimps
As its name shows, the Shrimp Department specializes in collecting and wholesaling shrimps. It is really an international division because about 90% of domestic consumption is imported from various countries including Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Ausutralia,and Mexico.
The main items are kuruma prawns, red shreimps, prawns,black tiger shrimps, spiny lobsters, snow crabs, american lobsters, etc.
œDried Fish Departmentœ
Preserved and Processed Foodstuffs
This department collects and wholesales a variety of dried and semidried seafood products as well as processed marine foodstuffs.
The main items of dried and semidried seafood products are dried squid,dried sardines, semidried split horse mackerel and mackerel pike, whitebait along with various other dried and semidried fish, and sliced fish, kamaboko fish cake, chikuwa fish sticks, smoked salmon, tamago-dofu (steamed egg custard), hamburger, etc. are the main items of processed marine foodstuffs, The wide variety of imported items has increased in volume recently.
œThe best12 items
RANKING ITEMS QUANTITY (metric ton) UNIT PRICE (yen/kg) SUM (million yen)
1 Tuna 33,011 1,433 47,292
2 Shrimp 7,820 1,808 14,135
3 Fish roe 9,792 1,072 10,499
4 Salmon & Trout 14,530 639 9,279
5 Crab 5,196 1,467 7,624
6 Yellowtail 5,644 950 5,363
7 Squid 10,026 415 4,161
8 Horse mackerel 7,806 490 3,822
9 Snapper 3,780 923 3,488
10 Sea Urchin 454 7,597 3,449
11 Globe fish 511 4,488 2,293
12 Scallop 2,089 923 2,225
The best12 items the head office of CHUO GYORUI dealing in (1998.April - 1999.March)