The price of crayfish plummeted by more than 60% in a month, and the wholesale price of origin fell to single digits

China Times

2024-04-29 14:52Published on the official account of Beijing China Times

The weather is getting hotter, and it's the peak season for crayfish sales. At the same time, the news of crayfish price reductions has come out one after another, which inevitably makes the public wonder why the price of the former "night snack top" has dived, don't you like to eat crayfish?

When the reporter of "China Times" visited, it was found that on Gui Street, the most popular food street in Beijing, Hu Da Restaurant, which is famous for "crayfish", was particularly popular in waiting for seats: there were more than 200 tables in line and more than 3 hours of waiting. At the same time, many other restaurants selling crayfish are also very popular, almost full.

However, the other side of the coin is that the wholesale price of ordinary crayfish in Hubei, Jiangsu and other crayfish producing areas has continued to fall, and has fallen below 10 yuan per catty.

The reporter of this newspaper investigated and learned that the current sale is all farmed crayfish, the wholesale price of Xiaoqing in Hubei production area is 7 yuan/jin, Zhongqing is 12 yuan/jin, and Daqing is 29 yuan/jin. In late March, at the beginning of the crayfish listing, the price of Xiaoqing was still 19 yuan per catty. In just one month, the price has fallen by 63.18%.

"This year, the price of crayfish has experienced a big dive on the whole, especially for Zhongqing and Xiaoqing. Compared with the same period last year, the price also fell significantly. However, the price of prawns is relatively good, the price of 6-8 yuan is still 28 yuan, and the gun head above 9 yuan is about 50 yuan, which is not much different from the same period last year. In the next stage, the price trend of crayfish will show a polarizing trend. The price of prawns will remain relatively high, while the price of small and medium-sized prawns will fall further, but after May, the price of crayfish will recover with the end of rice and shrimp. Zhang Wenwen, a special expert of Brick's agricultural big data applet and general manager of Gretel Marketing Center, said in an interview with a reporter from China Times.

Crayfish prices have plunged

On April 27, a reporter from the China Times visited the Jingshen Seafood Market, the largest seafood wholesale market in Beijing, and found that a large number of crayfish were currently on the market, and a large number of foam boxes were piled up in front of the shops selling crayfish, which were filled with fresh crayfish. Some merchants started live broadcasts in front of the store, and the market sales atmosphere was very strong.

"Crayfish are cheap now, and the price has dropped particularly quickly this year. The best selling is 4 yuan - 6 yuan, a catty of about 17, 18, now it is 18 yuan / catty, last week it was more than 30 yuan, directly dropped by half. 6 money-8 money, a pound of about 12 is 30 yuan/catty, and a larger one or two is 40 yuan/catty. Lao Wang, who sells crayfish in the Beijing-Shenzhen seafood market, told the "China Times" reporter that the price of crayfish this year is 2 yuan to 4 yuan per catty lower than last year, and the price difference in general will not exceed 3 yuan per catty.

"Now crayfish is in the peak season, and the sales are not bad, and they can sell 500 to 600 catties a day. It can sell better during the May Day holiday, and we have to hold a 'crayfish festival'. Lao Wang said.

From the retail point of view, in a number of fresh supermarkets in Beijing, although the retail price of crayfish has also decreased significantly compared with the beginning of the month, the price generally exceeds 20 yuan/catty, ranging from 25 yuan/jin to 45 yuan/catty. In terms of the terminal consumer market, the price of crayfish products sold in stores such as barbecue restaurants and cooked braised vegetable shops has not changed significantly, but a certain degree of discount can also be achieved through group purchase and purchase of packages.

Zhang Wenwen believes that the decline in crayfish prices may be due to the expansion of the breeding area, the increase in production, and the market demand from short supply to supply and demand balance, or even surplus, and the output of crayfish will reach 3 million tons in 2023. At the same time, last year's frozen shrimp digestion was not as expected, this year's purchase volume has decreased, and the purchase price is lower than last year. At the consumption level, the main consumption scene of crayfish is night snack shops, but the economy of the night snack in the past two Chinese New Year's Eve is relatively weak, and crayfish consumption has decreased.

In fact, crayfish is a seasonal delicacy. From the beginning of a small number of crayfish on the market in March every year to the gradual shipment of crayfish in large quantities, there are often price changes. So, is this year's crayfish price fluctuating as in previous years?

Zhang Wenwen believes that compared with previous years, the price trend of crayfish in recent years has both consistency and inconsistency. The consistency lies in the V-shaped trend of "rising before high, high and low" unchanged. The inconsistency lies in the fact that the price is falling quickly and the low point is lower, especially for small and medium-sized shrimp, and the price is almost halved. Around April 8, the purchase price of Zhongqing's Tangkou was still 20 yuan, only about 10 yuan after just half a month, Xiaoqing was lower, 8 yuan before, and now only 5 yuan, and last year's guaranteed purchase price of small shrimp in the frozen storage was about 7 yuan, and now less than May, Xiaoqing's Tangkou purchase price has fallen last year's guaranteed price.

However, Zhang Wenwen also pointed out that at present, crayfish consumption is picking up, and the consumption scene is diversifying, mainly from night snack restaurant consumption, and beginning to extend to prefabricated dishes, snacks, etc., and the sales of braised shrimp are growing rapidly. During the May Day holiday, people's travel and gatherings increased, which led to the supper economy, which will inevitably drive the consumption of top crayfish at night. The growth of consumer demand will definitely be a good thing for the price of crayfish, and it will rebound.

Lao Wang also said based on his own sales experience that the sales and prices of crayfish during the May Day period will increase, probably up 2 yuan / catty, but the price will fall after the May Day.

The pattern of the crayfish industry has been continuously optimized

It is worth noting that in recent years, the growth of crayfish consumption has led to an increase in production, and the market size has continued to expand. In this case, the development of the crayfish industry has also attracted the attention of many governments, including Jiangsu, Hubei, Jiangxi and other major crayfish breeding provinces have issued documents to promote and promote the sustainable and healthy development of the crayfish industry.

At present, the crayfish industry chain is relatively simple, the first production mainly includes breeding and seed production, mainly aquaculture; the second production mainly includes crayfish processing, condiment processing, feed processing, fishing nets and boat manufacturing, processing equipment manufacturing, etc., mainly crayfish processing; the third production mainly includes catering, circulation, leisure fishery, etc., mainly catering.

"The awareness of crayfish brand management is still relatively weak. At present, although the output of crayfish has reached 3 million tons, and the output value of the industry has reached more than 400 billion, there is no crayfish brand to define what is a good shrimp and a high-quality shrimp. In the whole breeding production is still relatively extensive, basically it can be said that it depends on the sky to eat, the market is good, farmers increase the amount of feeding, the market is not good, reduce the amount of feeding, or even do not vote, there is no sense of brand management. From the current consumer demand, the market demand for prawns above 6 yuan is relatively strong, and we are now consciously guiding farmers to raise prawns, raise high-quality shrimp, establish crayfish brands, and increase the premium of crayfish brands. Zhang Wenwen said.

For the outlook for the development trend of the crayfish industry, the "2023 China Crayfish Industry Research Report" released by the Brick Agricultural Big Data Research Department believes that the breeding scale of crayfish has been basically saturated, and there are no new crayfish varieties on the market, so the future crayfish breeding is basically stable. Changes in breeding and feeding methods have promoted the rapid development of the crayfish commercial feed industry. The aquaculture market tends to be saturated, but the breeding mode and quality improvement promote the increase of aquaculture output value. Crayfish sauce, seasoned shrimp and high value-added shrimp shell extraction products such as astaxanthin and chitin have contributed to the increasing processing output value. With the recovery of the catering industry and the holding of lobster festivals in various places, the consumption of crayfish has rebounded again, and the consumption output value of crayfish will continue to increase.

Editor-in-charge: Xu Yunqian Editor-in-chief: Gong Peijia

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