Crawfish Prices Drop as Louisiana&#...

Crawfish boil season is in full swing within the south, and crawfish costs throughout Louisiana have fallen to their lowest level of the 2025 season.  Dwell crawfish at the moment are averaging $3.64 per pound and boiled crawfish at simply over $6 per pound. Seafood markets reported a 25-cent value drop this week, marking the second consecutive week of declining costs.

The beginning of April historically marks the center of crawfish season, characterised by delicate climate, plentiful provide, and good-sized crawfish. This typical seasonal sample coincides with rising harvests from Louisiana’s crawfish farms, creating favorable circumstances for each producers and customers.

Todd Fontenot, crawfish knowledgeable with the LSU Ag Heart, notes that manufacturing has improved considerably. “Final 12 months, the costs had been off the charts as a result of there was no manufacturing. Hopefully, final 12 months was an outlier,” Fontenot stated, estimating that this 12 months’s season is seeing roughly 65% extra manufacturing than final 12 months.

The 2025 season represents a major enchancment over 2024’s traditionally poor harvest, when drought and unfavorable climate circumstances severely restricted provide. Final 12 months’s costs reached as excessive as $16.99 per pound in some New Orleans eating places, making crawfish prohibitively costly for a lot of conventional gatherings, particularly round Easter.

Agricultural consultants estimate that this 12 months’s manufacturing is roughly 65% increased than final 12 months, although nonetheless under what can be thought of a traditional season. Some lingering results from the 2023 drought that impacted the 2024 season should still be affecting manufacturing ranges.

This 12 months’s Easter celebrations ought to see significantly better crawfish availability, with sack costs anticipated round $125, in comparison with final 12 months’s $225 per customary 30-35 pound sack. The nice and cozy climate Louisiana has been experiencing is more likely to profit the rest of the season, probably leading to bigger crawfish because the elevated temperatures make them extra energetic and susceptible to molting, which facilitates development.

Whereas farmers report various success charges throughout completely different fields, the general trade outlook is constructive for the rest of the 2025 season, with ample provide and affordable costs anticipated via the spring.

Keith Lusher

Keith Lusher is an award-winning out of doors journalist who resides in Covington, Louisiana. He owns and operates NorthshoreFishingReport.com and writes a weekly out of doors column for the Slidell Unbiased Newspaper. He additionally writes for the St.Tammany Parish Tourism Fee’s VisitTheNorthshore.com. He’s the previous host of The Northshore Fishing Report Radio Present and is on the board of the Louisiana Out of doors Writers Affiliation. Keith contributes to quite a few publications each on-line and in print and prides himself on selling South Louisiana’s distinctive fishery. To contact Keith electronic mail: keithlusherjr@gmail.com