New Premium Grapes Sold For $910 In Japan

(AP)  A new variety of premium grapes debuted in Japan on Monday, with a single bunch fetching as much as 100,000 yen, or $910.

A Japanese hotel manager paid that amount, or about $26 per grape, for a 1 1/2 pound bunch of the Ruby Roman grapes to serve guests at an upscale hotel, officials said.

"We believe the price was probably a record high," said local agricultural official Hirofumi Isu. "They're delicious - sweet but fresh at the same time, very well balanced."

The tomato-colored grapes made their debut at an auction in Japan's northwestern Ishikawa prefecture, where they have been under development since 1994 in a state-led project.

The bunch that fetched the top price had about 35 grapes, each slightly smaller than a pingpong ball, Isu said.

The average price for the Ruby Roman grapes at Monday's auction was about $245 a bunch.

Isu said local farmers hope to sell 1,500 bunches, or 1 ton, of the grapes by mid-September.

Fruit is generally expensive in Japan, and people often buy grapes, peaches and melons as luxury gifts. Japanese are often willing to pay top prices for high-end fruits, especially for the prestige of owning the very first ones of the year.

Monday's prices far exceeded those for the most popular premium variety, Muscat of Alexandria, which sell for as much as $90 a bunch at Tokyo's Ota fruit market, the country's largest, according to Koichi Kato, an official at fruit wholesaler Tokyo Seika Co.

"It could be a congratulatory price for its debut," Kato said of Monday's auction in Ishikawa. "Tokyo's largest fruit market is very competitive."

[libsluv2spit]

There is obviously a market for those grapes otherwise people would not buy them. Prices will go where the market will bear.

Posted by emmasdad8 at 01:19 PM : Aug 12, 2008
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that is the power of marketing and the media..

[850Rick]

There is obviously a market for those grapes otherwise people would not buy them. Prices will go where the market will bear.

[toldyouso12]

Then there is the former half ton Mexican, too fat to move or cook for himself (somebody has to be feeding him) that is now down to 700 lbs and is forklifted for a day in the bay... and the chinese immigrant beheading someone on a greyhound bus...Guess between this, Canada and Japan, our government is trying to show us that we are not the only country doing stupid, idiotic things and losing our minds.

Misery does love company. Another propaganda distraction, so a lot of us won''t realize how much we are getting a dailing d1cking from our gov.

[oneworldusa]

People who would pay $900 for a couple red grapes are stupid, but they have enough money to waste away. By doing so, they are sending a message to everyone else that they don''t care about anyone but themselves.

Even if I hit the lottery I would not buy $900 grapes. But I would like to be the seller of some of these ridiculous goodies.

[deacon20081]

If the Japaneese want to pay a fortune for nothing...who cares? $26.00 a GRAPE? So a bottle of wine made with these grapes would cost what,$50.000.00

[libsluv2spit]

riddle me this: would you pay that much for grapes?

Posted by libsluv2spit at 04:16 PM : Aug 11, 2008

Right now in the USA, you''''ll pay over 5.00/lb for bing cherries. To get a good bunch, often weighing close to 2lbs or more, the price is over 10.00. Check out your local Hyvee or WAlmart supercenter to see some hyperinflation in a store near you. LOL

Posted by toldyouso12 at 04:38 PM : Aug 11, 2008
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again, i am not talking about a few dollars for a bag of grapes..we are talking about $26 fuking dollars PER GRAPE..yes PER GRAPE..this is not hyperinflation its called FLEECING THE MORONS WITH MONEY..

[whitemale08]

More important, if we''''re a "globalized market", why are costs, costs of living, premium costs, wages, and all sorts of things unequal? All the talk of "flat earth" would suggests everything should be equal. Yet for all that talk, there''''s nothing to address the other side. Color me confused.

Posted by hypnotoad72 at 04:12 PM : Aug 11, 2008--

The problem is that Starbucks might of treated their employees better then other fast food franchises but in the process they basicly put little "Juan Valdez" of Columbia out of business.

What I mean is that everytime one of these big franchise outlets opens up it automaticly creates a "stock bond" on Wall Street that is so huge that it sucks up all of the available farmland in Columbia.

The local farmer who used to being wealthy in his own right is now a "rational peasant" because he''s forced to sell his land to Starbucks and then have his fortune turn into dog krap by devaluating its currency and now he has to go apply at Starbucks to work as a "migrant worker" or peasant on his own land!

Now ubsurd is that? That''s called "supply side" economics because no one demanded "Star bucks" in the first place.

The evil bankers underwrite Starbucks IPO (which means free printed money for them) and then you and I take the risk by sticking this stock in our penion portfolios.

Now you will see Starbucks cut back all of those benifits you''re talking about because closing 600 stores will not be enough in the Global Financial Meltdown.

[toldyouso12]

riddle me this: would you pay that much for grapes?

Posted by libsluv2spit at 04:16 PM : Aug 11, 2008

Right now in the USA, you''ll pay over 5.00/lb for bing cherries. To get a good bunch, often weighing close to 2lbs or more, the price is over 10.00. Check out your local Hyvee or WAlmart supercenter to see some hyperinflation in a store near you. LOL

[toldyouso12]

Reminds me of the excesses of the Roman Empire, when they became so bored, hedonistic and decadent with normalcy that they started eating weird stuff like flamingo tongues and engaging in deviant pursuits and hid their bizarreness around the idea that they were just sophisticated.

From houses with nothing in them, made of paper and straw, to ugly pottery burned in fire and proclaiming sexual deviations as well as the ideas of tea ceremony profound, symbolic and "deep". The Japanese signify a trend towards self immolation. 900.00 for grapes and 5000.00 for a Tuna are not only ridiculous but show a distinct disrespect for the plight of most Japanese--whose lives are so poor that many live in apts no bigger than a 14 X 10 space and have to get company subsistance just to afford lunch. The ones we see jetsetting to Paris or buying up American property are similar to the Americans you see buying second houses in Rome--they are not the norm. A people in decline.

[libsluv2spit]

Color me confused.


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Posted by hypnotoad72 at 04:12 PM : Aug 11, 2008
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if you pay more than 5 dollars for coffee. i dont care if its employees are ''treated well''..or if jesus himself pressed those coffee beans..THEN YES YOU ARE CONFUSED..

riddle me this: would you pay that much for grapes?