vNameCard: One in every eight mitten crabs comes from this place - Xinghua hairy crabs

Yangcheng Lake hairy crab refers to the Chinese mitten crab produced in Yangcheng Lake. Although the mitten crabs in different places are basically the same species, they differ in appearance, taste, and even price due to different water areas and breeding methods.

Yangcheng Lake mitten crabs are recognized as the most well-known hairy crab species, a Chinese geographical indication product, and Yangcheng Lake has become synonymous with mitten crabs.

When talking about hairy crabs, we can't just focus on Yangcheng Lake. There are more stories in Xinghua, more than 200 kilometers away from Yangcheng Lake.

Xinghua hairy crabs are always inevitably compared with Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs. Compared with the Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs, which have long been famous, the fame of Xinghua hairy crabs is obviously not in line with their size. Both are Chinese mitten crabs, and both are born and raised in Jiangsu. If you have to tell the difference between Xinghua crabs and Yangcheng Lake crabs, it is not easy.

When it comes to hairy crabs, many people will automatically associate a place name in their minds: Yangcheng Lake. However, although Yangcheng Lake is famous, Xinghua City, which is under the jurisdiction of Taizhou, Jiangsu, is actually the largest hairy crab production area in my country, and it is also the largest trading distribution center. According to statistics, the annual crab farming area in Xinghua reaches 680,000 mu, with a production of nearly 70,000 tons in 2023 and a total sales of 22 billion yuan. A widely cited figure is that one out of every eight hairy crabs on the national market comes from Xinghua.

In contrast, according to the data released when Suzhou Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs were caught on September 25, its annual hairy crab production is expected to be around 9,900 tons, of which the lake area is 15,700 mu and the production is about 1,500 tons; the high-standard pond farming area around the lake is 65,700 mu and the production is about 8,400 tons.