Hot weather, Nghe An crab price increased to a record 120,000 VND/kg

At night, farmers in Yen Thanh district go to the fields to "hunt" for crabs. However, the crabs caught at night are mostly small. Photo: Xuan Hoang

At night, in the fields of Yen Thanh, Do Luong, Dien Chau districts... people carry flashlights to the fields to "hunt" for field crabs. At the intersections on some main roads, you can occasionally see traders sitting busily buying field crabs.

It is known that more than a month ago, natural field crabs in Nghe An... reached the price of 100,000 VND/kg, but in the past 10 days, the price has jumped to a record high of 120,000 VND/kg.

Traders buy field crabs at a price of 110,000 - 120,000 VND/kg. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Ms. Dang Thi Thu Hien, a crab trader in Bac Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) said that the market in Hanoi and other cities consumes crabs strongly, so the price of wild crabs in the countryside is increasing. However, the number of crabs people catch has decreased significantly at this time. Previously, one person could catch 2-3 kg/day, but now they are only lucky to catch 1 kg.

The price of crabs has increased to 120,000 VND/kg for the past 10 days. However, crabs caught during the day are only bought for 120,000 VND/kg, while crabs caught at night are only bought for 110,000 VND/kg. Because the crabs caught during the day are big, while the crabs caught at night are small.

The demand for crab consumption has increased sharply in northern cities, but during this time, field crabs in Nghe An are rare, so the amount of crabs caught each day is not much. Photo: Xuan Hoang

However, at this time, many fields are dry, crabs rarely come out of their holes, so it is difficult to catch them. Trader Nguyen Van Tan in Long Thanh commune said that crabs are rare at this time, so each day he buys in the communes of Long Thanh, Khanh Thanh, Nam Thanh... (Yen Thanh) only over 100 kg, while before he bought 2 - 3 quintals of crabs/day.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Luong, a farmer in Bac Thanh commune, shared that when the fields were flooded, she could catch more than 1 kg of crabs in 3 hours, but at this time, many fields were dry, so she could only catch 4-5 taels. However, due to the high price of crabs, she worked hard to wade through the fields every night to earn more income.

Field crabs are packed in sacks and sent by passenger vans to the North for consumption, with Hanoi being the largest market. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Mr. Thai Van Ngan, a crab trader in Do Luong district, added that field crabs are not only transported to Hanoi, but also to big cities: Hai Phong, Thai Binh... so the demand is very high. However, because crabs are difficult to catch at this time, the output of people caught has decreased, supply cannot meet demand.

"Every day, traders buy as much as they can, pack it in bags, put it on ice at night so the crabs don't die, and send it by bus to the North for immediate consumption," said Mr. Ngan.