Photo: VCG

"I have been waiting to try out this year's hairy crabs from the Yangcheng Lake, even though I could not share the joy with my family and friends during the recent holidays," a crab lover surnamed Yu from Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality told the Global Times on Monday. 

As one of China's premium seasonal delicacies during the fall, gourmet enthusiasts like Yu always look forward to the crab harvest, but the waiting time is longer than usual in 2022. 

This year's harvest of hairy crabs from Yangcheng Lake in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu Province, has been delayed, linked to extreme weather and prolonged heat wave and drought across the middle and lower valleys of the Yangtze River, the major farming area for the crab.

Even though the production and harvest of Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs in 2022 have faced challenges, multiple industry sources told the Global Times that the overall impact remains manageable. 

Manageable impact

Data from the local agricultural authority in Suzhou revealed that the Yangcheng Lake enclosure culture area [which is set within the lake area] for breeding the hairy crabs has grown to 16,000 mu (2,635 acres) with an expected output of about 1,500 tons, while the high-standard pond farming area [which was set out of the lake area] was 72,000 mu with an expected output of about 7,900 tons in 2022, Xinhua News Agency reported on September 23.

Wang Li, a local official in Suzhou noted that the overall impact of an unusually hot summer on Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs remains manageable and moves to a stable situation, according to the report. 

"Due to the heat wave, the official harvest day of Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs was postponed from around September 25 to October 10. Zou Xueming, a hairy crab breeder in Kunshan city, a city beside the Yangcheng Lake, told the Global Times on Monday, adding that he had planned to further delay the harvest date for his crabs to October 20 in order to cultivate high quality crabs for potential customers. 

Zou said that the Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs normally begin to grow in early March, and are ready in the fall after shedding five times, adding that the prolonged heat wave during summer had a negative impact on crab farming while the overall output volume would drop. 

"The crabs get bigger and bigger after each time they shed of their outer shell, and grow to a size suitable for harvest after the fifth time," Zou noted, stressing that the heat wave delayed the shedding process, with some crabs even no longer shedding after the fourth time. 

Market wise, analysts expected that the peak period for hairy crabs will also be put off due to the delay in harvest. 

Zhu Danpeng, a veteran food industry observer, expected that the peak for orders would be pushed to around October 26 to November 5. 

"The consumption for hairy crabs has been affected at a certain level especially when it comes to enjoying ready to eat crabs, but the purchasing for gift cards and vouchers was not affected too much by harvest delay," he told the Global Times on Monday. 

As for the impact on the sale price for crabs, industry insiders stressed that crabs of a relatively small size will be priced lower, while larger size crabs will be sold at a higher price due to the lower output.

This year's decreased output of crabs has affected market prices, an aquatic products trader surnamed Zhang in Nanjing, capital city of Jiangsu Province, told the Global Times. 

Zhang noted that most crabs previously listed on the market were relatively small in size compared with regular years, and that larger-size crabs would be sold at a premium. 

Graphic: Tang Tengfei/GT

Market favourite

Despite the delay to the harvest, crab lovers are still looking forward to enjoying fresh Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs, while experts and breeders have taken measure to minimize the influence of the abnormal weather. 

Zou said that he has received pre-orders from some clients, while some guests have already come in to try out the earliest-harvested crabs while expecting to make a decent income from the crabs as he had taken measures like water purification.

The size of Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs sold on Tmall is mainly around 200 grams for male crabs and 150 grams for female crabs with measures being taken by suppliers to ensure the quality, according to a report sent to the Global Times by Tmall on Monday. 

Even though Chinese consumers were not able to enjoy the famous crabs during the holidays, Zhu noted that the postponement of the peak season may form a new consumption node for hairy crabs which may also drive purchases for complementary goods. 

Zhu added that the market base for Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs has already been formed and stabilized, and the domestic demand in the future will still likely exceed that of supply.