The Louisiana wild and farmed crawfish yield is much lower than normal for this time of year, but potential flooding from the Mississippi River could turn the market around.
The wild crawfish supply is off significantly this season, which typically runs from April through June. “Supply hasn’t been good.
We have needed higher water levels. Finally, we are going to get some water, and we just hope the levees hold,” said one supplier.
Although the worst of the Mississippi River flooding was in Missouri and Tennessee, residents of Louisiana were extremely concerned that the flooding could also affect New Orleans. If flooding occurs, it could actually help crawfish production, but hurt demand because of the homes and livelihoods impacted by flooding.
“It is going to affect most of our fisheries, but the upside will be wild crawfish. This will explode the crawfish season — we can fish in deep water. The prices should drop dramatically, and there will be a lot of production,” said one Louisiana buyer.
As a result of lower production and steady demand, Louisiana crawfish prices are stronger than normal. Dock price for large crawfish is averaging USD 1 a pound, and retail prices in Louisiana range from USD 1.65 a pound to USD 1.85 a pound.
Farmed crawfish production is at about 50 to 60 percent of what it normally would be, suppliers reported.
“This year, the mature crawfish are going back into the ground. We had very dry conditions in the fall, and we never got the rain to get the crawfish out of the ground. Then, we had a really cold winter,” said Greg Lutz, aquaculture specialist with the Louisiana State University AgCenter.
At the same time, Texas crawfish production is reportedly lower this season because of drought conditions. Retail prices in Texas have been reported as high as USD 2.45 a pound, and the state is purchasing more crawfish than normal from Louisiana.
Meanwhile, importers are unsure about the landings and product quality they will see from China this season. Typically, the Chinese crawfish season begins in May, but has been held up by a drought.
“We don’t know how they are going to come out of the ground – big or small. Last year, the season there was delayed by a cold front,” said a U.S. importer.
U.S. crawfish imports from China increased 26.6 percent in 2010 to 17.9 million pounds, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.
