Lower harvest set to push up price of prized hairy Chinese holiday delicacy
Typical cost of Yangcheng Lake’s hairy crabs set to pass US$10 mark
The price of a popular Mid-Autumn Festival delicacy is expected to rise due to a smaller harvest this year.
Yangcheng Lake in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, is famous for its hairy crabs, which are a traditional Mid-Autumn Festival gift and typically attract high prices.
Market prices for the shellfish this year have risen to 210-220 yuan (US$31.80-33.30) per 500 grammes – compared with a price of 170-180 yuan per 500 grammes last year, according to a trader quoted in Hangzhou’s City Express newspaper on Monday.
That means that a typical crab weighing 150 grammes would cost at least 70 yuan (USD $10.60).
According to annual figures published by the Suzhou City Agricultural Commission, this year’s average hairy crab weight was 167 grammes, up 6.2 per cent from last year.