How cheap crayfish will be this Christmas

With increasing trade tensions with China, luxury seafood is tipped to be much more affordable than usual this Christmas.

Last month, a shipment of crayfish from Australia was held up by Chinese customs, who claimed they were concerned about trace elements of metal in the seafood. The delay led to some of the crayfish dying.

China has now imposed an unofficial ban on the prized Australian seafood.

CEO of Seafood Industry Australia, Veronica Papacosta, says it means bargain prices of Australian consumers.

“You’ll be looking at $50 to $60 a kilo,” she told Stephen Quartermain and Tony Leonard, filling in for Ross and Russel.

But processing delays could reduce availability.

“One of the issue we have is generally we’re shipping live lobster to China, where as the local market … would like it fresh and cooked, so there’s a bit of an infrastructure problem there as well,” Ms Papacosta said.

“As long as we can get the lobsters cooked and through the supply chain … I think you will see lobster come down.”

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