Rumoi is the central city of the Rumoi region. Its main industries are commerce,
civil engineering, and
seafood processing. Rumoi Port is still used for landing
Pacific herring, and is the largest processing center in Japan for
kazunoko herring roe. Until the 1900s, Rumoi was a fishing town that relied solely on herring fishing, with a permanent population of just under 40,000 and over 30,000 migrant workers, and a very lively entertainment district. Since the 1910s, the development of
coal mines progressed. After the depletion of herring resources in 1950, Mitsui & Co. and others began importing fish roe and other products from overseas for seafood processing companies, and lumber processing companies in the city also began importing northern timber in the 1950s, so the city's economy has been based on commerce, fishing and mining since 1950. In the 1960s, the coal mines were closed and in the 1970s, local seafood processing companies gradually lost market share to factories in
Sapporo and the Tokyo metropolitan area, which are located near major consumer areas. In the 1980s, the city began to develop ports, roads, and waste disposal facilities to accommodate the unemployed leading to a rapid expansion in the issuance of city bonds. By the 1990s, wood processing companies went out of business or moved overseas, almost eliminating economic activity in the city. The government, which the city relied on, also retreated one after another, with the Rumoi Maritime Bureau moving to
Asahikawa and the Rumoi Coast Guard Station integrating with
Otaru. Since the 1990s, the city's economy has become government-dependent, dependent on public servants' salaries and public works. According to the 2000 census, the proportion of employees in the
tertiary industry, including public servants, was overwhelmingly high, accounting for more than 70% of the total number of employees, with
secondary industry accounting for 30%.
Primary industry only accounted for a little over 3%. ==Education==