China’s weather is getting warmer, and it’s peak season for crayfish sales. However, currently, the price of crayfish has dropped by nearly 70% compared to early April this year, with some operators attributing the price decline to reduced market demand.
In the crayfish-producing regions such as Hubei and Jiangsu, the wholesale price of ordinary crayfish has fallen below 10 yuan per jin (500 grams). Li Hai, a crayfish wholesaler in Jingzhou, Hubei Province, revealed to the China Securities Journal on April 27: “Currently, the crayfish being sold are all farm-raised. The wholesale price for small green crayfish is 8 yuan per jin, medium green is 12 yuan per jin, and large green is 28 yuan per jin. The prices are already very low. At the beginning of April, the price for small green crayfish was still over 20 yuan per jin, but within a month, the price has dropped by about 70%.”
With the sharp decline in wholesale prices, retail prices of crayfish have also been decreasing. In several fresh supermarkets in Beijing, the retail prices of crayfish have noticeably dropped compared to the beginning of the month, with prices generally ranging from 20 yuan to 35 yuan per jin. A supermarket manager in Beijing stated, “Small green crayfish are now selling for 100 yuan for 4 jin, whereas they were selling for over 30 yuan per jin a while ago. The prices have gone down, and they are expected to further decrease in the near future.”
Zhang Piaoyi, an information officer at the Zhoudui Agricultural Wholesale Market Information Center in Hefei, told Da Wan News on April 24 that since a small amount of crayfish entered the market in February this year, sales have gradually increased. However, compared to the previous month, crayfish prices have significantly dropped, with the price of medium-sized crayfish dropping from a high of 40 yuan per jin to about 15 yuan per jin currently.
Regarding the reasons for the decline in crayfish prices, Zhang Piaoyi believes that the main cause of the price drop in Hefei this year is the low consumer demand in the market.
The news of the crayfish price drop has been confirmed by many internet users, with “Crayfish Prices Plummeting” becoming the number one trending topic on Weibo on April 24. It garnered 170 million reads and 26,000 discussions. On Tencent’s platform, nearly 300 internet users participated in discussions on April 28.
A netizen from Henan named “Tianyi” revealed, “Here, the retail price is below 8 yuan. A few days ago, I noticed the drop in crayfish prices and specifically went to the market to buy 10 jin, planning to enjoy some crayfish tails.”
Another netizen, “Butterfly,” mentioned, “I’m in the suburbs of Guangzhou. I heard crayfish are selling for 7 yuan per jin in the market. Considering they have little meat and are not that tasty, it’s more practical to buy normal shrimp for 26 yuan per jin.”
Some netizens disclosed that companies are cutting salaries and staff, leading to fewer people dining out. A netizen named “Musk” stated, “In the north, salaries have been cut across the board. There aren’t as many people going out for barbecue or stir-fry, and many restaurants have seen a significant drop in customers.”
In the 1990s, crayfish dishes began to gain popularity in Wuhan. Initially, only a few shops and food stalls offered crayfish, and the business was quite booming. By 2005, crayfish dishes in Wuhan started to explode in popularity.
Subsequently, with the development of the internet and cold chain logistics, crayfish dishes began to rise in the market, and the crayfish dining market in China began to grow steadily. In 2018, there was a peak in the crayfish market. According to data from Qi Cha Cha, the number of registered crayfish-related companies exceeded 6,000 that year, nearly one and a half times the registration volume in 2017.
In the following years, the glamour of crayfish gradually faded, as the number of registered crayfish-related companies declined year by year.