Jane Chen / Shanghai Daily news

Hairy crabs, favorite food on local dinner tables in autumn, will likely become a cheap treat this year, as the prices are expected to hit the record low because of oversupplies, today's Oriental Morning Post said.
Citing data from Shanghai Fishery Trade Association, the report said crabs from the nearby areas of Jiangsu, Anhui and Hubei provinces had hailed to Shanghai before the National Day holiday and the total supplies on October 1 increased 10 percent to 480 tons at major local fishery markets.
Sales also increased during the holiday and reached 2,375 tons in total, an increase of 8 percent.  Despite that, the sales growth is lower than the supplies increase and resulted in prices plunges.
The prices were 10 percent lower year-on-year, and even lower than those in the Mid Autumn Festival of two weeks before, according to Dai Honggen, information dean of Tongchuan Fishery Market.
The Tongchuan market handles 60 percent of the city's crab trade.  Compared with the peak of 38-40 yuan (US$4.7-4.9) per gram, the wholesale price of a crab of about 200 grams was 32-35 yuan on October 5 and slid to 25-26 yuan yesterday, Dai noted.
"The price will go on dropping, though the good time has just come for good taste of crabs," Kong Qingyuan, chairperson of the fishery trade association, forecast.
The sales are shrinking.  The daily trade declined to below 200 tons yesterday from 300 tons on October 5 and over 450 tons during October 1 to 3.