Japan Canned Tuna Market - Databook 2025 to 2034

The Japan canned tuna market size was evaluated at USD 1,356 million in 2024 and is expected to grow around USD 1,831 million by 2034, registering a CAGR of 3.01% from 2025 to 2034.

Highlights of the Japan Canned Tuna Market

• By tuna species, the skipjack segment underwent notable growth in the market during 2024.
• By tuna species, the yellowfin segment is anticipated to expand rapidly.
• By distribution, the hypermarket & supermarket segment saw a surge in market performance.
• By distribution, the online segment showed substantial gains in the Japan canned tuna market.

Industry Valuation and Growth Rate Projection

Canned tuna refers to edible tuna that is processed and packed into a can for future consumption. Canned tuna comes in ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook varieties, making it an easy-to-use option for consumers. Tuna is highly rich in protein, omega-3, and fatty acids, and thus it is consumed as a staple diet in Japan.

Japan’s canned tuna market is a well-established sector, with over one-fourth of the world’s tuna consumed in the island nation. Tuna, also known as maguro in Japanese, is a part of a variety of dishes, including sushi, sashimi, and grilled dishes since the Edo period. It was previously considered a common man’s fish, with its shelf life extended by preservatives such as soy sauce.

A busy Japanese lifestyle is leading to higher demand for canned and ready-to-eat food, which helps save time while enabling better management of health and nutrition. Canned tuna is being looked at as a healthier alternative to other processed products at comparatively affordable rates.

Market Trends

• Need for convenient, ready-to-eat products: With a change in lifestyles and increasing working hours, the demand for canned tuna in Japan has increased in the past few years.
• Changing food consumption trends: New food and beverage demands prioritizing nutrition intake have inclined towards a more protein-rich diet, thus increasing demand for canned tuna.
• Advancements in technology: Advancements in packaging technology aid in providing canned products with a much superior quality. The tuna farming industry in Japan has been a pioneer, developing the closed-loop farming system due to efforts by the Aquaculture Research Institute of Kindai University to obtain artificially hatched Pacific Bluefin larvae.

Restraints

• Relaxing Cultural trends around food: Japan’s consumer preferences are generally towards fresh-cooked seafood over processed foods. However, the advent of convenience stores, supermarkets, and the growing popularity of on-the-go packaged foods is leading to the growing popularity of canned tuna products.
• Environmental challenges: Canned tuna production comes with a downside of environmental awareness amplified by international media to promote sustainability standards. The danger of overfishing, especially in the Indian Ocean, threatens the industry.
• Stringent import regulations: Japan’s canned tuna market imposes strict regulations and compliance costs for the canned seafood companies, specifically targeted towards preservatives, heavy metal content, and country-of-origin labelling.
• High price sensitivity: The cost of raw material can vary depending on the season, petrol prices, labor prices, import cost, and many other factors, which make the market price sensitive.

Opportunity

• Expansion of private labels: Private labels offer competitive prices to price-sensitive consumers, which can boost market penetration through locally tailored products.
• Product innovation: Brands offer new and localized flavors to penetrate deeper into the market and cater to a variety of households with traditional flavors. Furthermore, smaller packs are made to be used with tiffin boxes for kids as well as adults.
• Collaborations with food delivery: The Food delivery ecosystem in Japan has expanded the availability of canned tuna, along with Yamato, Sagawa, and Japan Post serving as major players of TAKUHAI-BIN, a door-to-door delivery service in Japan.

Recent Developments in Japan’s Canned Tuna Market:

• In May 2025, advertising giant Dentsu extended the launch of Tuna Scope, a smartphone app that can immediately grade tuna on a three- or five-level scale, as a pilot project to evaluate fresh yellowfin tuna in Indonesia. The project is supported by the government-backed Japan International Cooperation Agency.
• In April 2025, Fujitsu Limited and Sonofai Inc., Ishida Tec Co., Ltd announced a collaboration with Tokai University for the launch of an automatic inspection device to gauge the fat content of frozen albacore tuna while leaving the fish intact. Sonofai is expected to launch the device called SONOFAI T-01 in June 2025, initially targeting the seafood processing industry and fisheries cooperatives in Japan, before expanding globally.