Finally: Crawfish prices are dropping

Crawfish prices decreased in Louisiana following the passing of the industry’s busiest holiday—Easter weekend.

While crawfish prices were nearly double in the final week of March compared to the year before because of limited inventory, prices dropped an average 30 cents in the first week of April, says Laney King, co-founder of The Crawfish App, which tracks the prices of live and boiled crawfish across the state.

Live crawfish are averaging $4.47 a pound last weekend, up roughly 73% from last year at this time, according to the app. Area retailers are selling boiled crawfish for $6.69 a pound.

While prices have dipped, King warned earlier this year that consumers should not expect prices to decrease to “normal levels” this season. While crawfish supply has risen compared to the start of the season, almost half of Louisiana’s crawfish ponds were devastated by last year’s drought, and production is not expected to reach normal levels. The LSU AgCenter’s preliminary estimate of crop loss and damage to Louisiana’s crawfish industry is nearly $140 million.

Last month, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry issued a disaster declaration for the state’s crawfish industry, unlocking certain federal aid for farmers. The U.S. Small Business Administration also extended aid to crawfish farmers with low-interest disaster loans. Approximately 365,000 crawfish acres across Louisiana have been affected by the conditions of saltwater intrusion, drought and high temperatures, according to the federal agency.

Earlier this year, Business Report traveled to one of the sources of Louisiana’s beloved crawfish—Four Oaks Farms in Morganza—to hear how crawfish farmers were grappling with low yields. See more of that story in this episode of Business Report’s multimedia series, Bottom Line.

This story originally appeared in an April 5 issue of Daily Report. To keep up with Baton Rouge business and politics, subscribe to the free Daily Report e-newsletter here.