Pictures: A giant tuna fetches $275,000 at New Year auction in Tokyo

Workers pull a cart carrying the most expensive tuna sold at this year's first auction outside Toyosu Market in Tokyo. The top-selling tuna at Tokyo's traditional New Year auction sold for $275,000 on Thursday, nearly double last year's price, breaking a pandemic trend of slumping demand.

Tuna on the floor prior to the first tuna auction of the year at Toyosu Market in Tokyo.

Michelin-starred sushi restaurant Onodera Group and Japanese wholesaler Yamayuki forked out $275,000 for the 212-kilo bluefin tuna in the auction at Tokyo's Toyosu fish market.

The figure was still only a fraction of the 2019 record price but marks a recovery for the symbolic auction after three years in which prices slumped.

Buyers inspect tuna prior to the first tuna auction of the year at Toyosu Market in Tokyo.

Last year's top-selling tuna, bought by the same pair of bidders, went for just 16.88 million yen, with observers blaming subdued demand as a Covid wave ripped through Japan in early 2022.

The New Year auction is highly anticipated, and securing the top-priced tuna offers bidders bragging rights.

For years, the top bid came from self-proclaimed "Tuna King" Kiyoshi Kimura, who paid a record $3.1 million in 2019. But in recent years, Kimura has held back, citing the pandemic.

A man walks past tuna lined up in a row as wholesale sellers and buyers attend the first tuna auction of the New Year at Toyosu fish market in Tokyo.

A buyer inspects tuna prior to the first tuna auction of the year at Toyosu Market in Tokyo.