Eel prices rise in Japan.

With a prime example of the necessity for marketers to localize marketing plans, the Mainichi Daily News (Tokyo) is reporting that this year, prices for eel have sent consumers reeling. July 28 has come and gone, with restaurants and food markets enduring the expected difficult year. July 28 is the date when Japanese say it auspicious to eat eel.

Eel fry, as it is locally known, has the traditional reputation of being able to help a person's body combat the effects of summer heat, usually experienced as debilitating.

Eel consumption peaks on this date, but this year the supply of eel is much lower than normal raising prices by as much as 30 percent, according to Mainichi. The reasons for the low yeild are unknown. Eel are caught in the wild and taken to fish farms where they are raised for about six months.

Speculation ranges from deviant weather patterns, to an insecticide scare driving consumers away from the imported product, to a shifting ocean current to earthquakes and typhoons. In spite of the supply problems, many restaurants are refusing to raise prices preferring to maintain their customer base.