A farmed fish from Vietnam is attracting attention as an alternative ingredient for surimi fish paste, which is used to make products such as chikuwa , satsuma-age and kamaboko fish cakes.

Surimi prices are soaring amid tight supplies, putting processed fish product-makers under pressure ahead of the peak demand season in winter.

Japan consumes more than 200,000 tons of surimi annually. Surimi is made primarily from Alaska pollock, but sluggish catches in Hokkaido and other parts of Japan have increased the country’s reliance on imports from the United States and elsewhere.

According to an industry group including processed fish product-makers, Alaska pollock caught in the Bering Sea, a major fishing ground, have been getting smaller in recent years. Reduced surimi production has led to prices doubling over the past three to four years, the group said.

Surimi is also made from golden threadfin bream, croaker and daggertooth pike conger from Southeast Asia.…