On May 10, shrimp farmers rowed to catch crayfish in the 10000 mu rice and fishery industrial base in Pangu Town, Jishui County, Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province. Photographed by Liao Min (People's Vision)

Recently, the staff sorted crawfish at the China Crawfish Trading Center in Qianjiang City, Hubei Province. Photographed by Wu Zhizun, reporter of Xinhua News Agency

Recently, crawfish is in the sales season. Crawfish is a seasonal delicacy. It comes into the market in a small amount in March every year, and then gradually expands the shipment. During this period, prices will also fluctuate. Many consumers found that this year's crawfish prices began to fall early, and the overall price was lower than in previous years.

In many fresh food supermarkets in Beijing, the retail price of crawfish has dropped a lot compared with that when it was just launched, and the price is generally about 20 yuan/jin. "This year, the price has dropped very fast. The best sellers are 4 to 6 yuan, about 17 or 18 per kilogram, and now it is 18 yuan/kilogram. Previously, the price was 30 yuan/kilogram, which has directly dropped by half." A seafood market stall said that the price of crayfish this year was 2 to 4 yuan/kilogram lower than last year.

The wholesale prices of ordinary crayfish in Hubei, Jiangsu and other crayfish producing areas continued to decline. According to the data of "Xiagu 360", a crawfish trading platform in Qianjiang, Hubei, from the end of March to now, the prices of green and red crawfish of different specifications, such as 2-4 yuan shrimp, 4-6 yuan shrimp, 6-8 yuan shrimp, have declined to varying degrees. For example, on March 24, the price of small shrimps in Qianjiang, Hubei Province, was 23 yuan/kg, that of Zhongqing was 33 yuan/kg, and that of Daqing was 47 yuan/kg, which was 10 yuan to 23 yuan higher than the average price on May 7, with an average decrease of 60%. At the end of April, the overall price of crayfish in the seafood and aquatic products markets such as Shuiduhe and Mawangdui in Changsha, Hunan, dropped by about 20% compared with the same period last year, and by about 30% to 50% compared with the price at the beginning of April. The lowest wholesale price of crayfish was 5 yuan/kg of crayfish.

Is it because consumers don't like crawfish? This is not the case. A seller in the interview said that crawfish can now sell 500 kg to 600 kg a day.

Online and offline crawfish sales are still high. According to the statistics released by Suzhou South Ring Bridge Market in Jiangsu Province, consumers ate 1330 tons of crayfish in the five days of the May Day holiday, with an average daily "elimination" of about 260 tons of crayfish, a year-on-year increase of more than 45%. According to the Crawfish Consumption Observation released by the Jingdong Institute of Consumption and Industrial Development in April, in the past month, the sales of live crawfish have increased by 606% month on month. The crawfish with a price of 4-6 yuan is the most popular, and the sales of crawfish condiments are also good, with a month on month increase of 78%.

It is understood that the price of crayfish in China has dropped sharply this year, mainly because the market is oversupplied.

Since March, many places in the south have experienced early warming, leading to an increase in crawfish production over the same period of previous years. Since March, crawfish in Hubei, Jiangsu, Hunan and other places have been listed first. The supply of crawfish in the market is sufficient, and the price of crawfish continues to be low.

On the whole, the domestic crawfish market supply has been expanding for many consecutive years. This is mainly due to the continuous expansion of breeding scale and the improvement of breeding technology.

The China Crawfish Industry Development Report (2023) shows that since 2016, the domestic crawfish breeding area has continued to grow, and by 2022, the national crawfish breeding area will reach about 28 million mu. In terms of output, the annual output of crawfish in China has maintained a rapid growth in recent years. In 2022, the output of crawfish will be about 2.89 million tons, up 9.76% year on year.

The upgrading and iteration of breeding technology has promoted the further increase of crawfish production. The active exploration of rice shrimp planting and breeding mode in many places throughout the country can not only effectively avoid the use of pesticides, reduce the use of feed and fertilizer, achieve green and scientific field planting and breeding, but also produce green, healthy, nutritious and high-quality crayfish and rice. Qianjiang, Hubei, has also explored the "shrimp in all seasons" breeding mode, which can break the ice even in winter.

With the continuous expansion of crawfish market, this industry has become an important industry to enrich people. Several large breeding provinces have issued favorable policies to promote the sustainable and healthy development of crawfish industry. Recently, 18 crawfish collection and storage enterprises and large collection and storage households in Hubei have received a total of 370 million yuan of loan credit, which can help enterprises to increase the collection and storage of crawfish by 30000 tons. Jiangsu Xuyi insists on taking the lobster industry as the leader, extending the industrial chain and promoting brand innovation. At present, the brand value of "Xuyi Lobster" has reached 35.312 billion yuan, ranking first in the national public brand of aquatic products for eight consecutive years.

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