Demand For Crawfish Slowly Rising Across Louisiana

There has never been a time when Louisiana residents didn't want crawfish. There are times however when Louisiana residents want crawfish more than others. While this would normally be a time of high demand for mudbugs many crawfish industry producers say that demand hasn't materialized.

The reason? It could be LSU's success on the football field.

Think about it. A typical college football season for the LSU program usually comes to a close with a bowl game on New Year's Day. This year the Tigers didn't finish their run to a national championship until January 13th. That's a lot of time to be focusing on football and not contemplating crawfish like we might have done in a normal year.

Still, others say the tepid demand for crawfish is less about want and more about money. Many consumers still feel that the price of crawfish is just a little too high right now. So, they might be delaying mudbug boils until closer to Mardi Gras.

As is the case in most years you can expect those prices to drop as the supply increases. And with the demand off a little this year maybe those prices will come down even more if the supply outpaces the demand.

According to the LSU AgCenter, more acres of farmland are producing crawfish this year and are expected to produce close to 150 million pounds of mudbugs. That would mean enough crawfish for every resident of the state to have 32 pounds. Or as we call that at my house, an appetizer.