A first shipment of live snow crab, air-freighted from Greenland to Kastrup and trucked to Hanstholm, has fetched promising prices.
‘On arrival, we took them out of the boxes where they were stored with ice and then put them in tubs of seawater,’ said auctioneer Jesper Kongsted at Hanstholm Fiskeauktion.
Of the roughly half-tonnes shipment of 5600 crabs, only 14 were dead on arrival, and the live crab fetched an average price of DKK96.81 (€13), while prices peaked at DKK150 (€20) per kilo for the largest sizes.
‘It’s a good price, and a whole lot higher than what Norwegian fishing vessels are paid when they deliver live snow crab,’ Jesper Kongsted commented, adding that a new batch of snow crab will be sold at auction this week.
Even with the cost of air freight and road transport factored in, which comes to roughly DKK40 per kilo, as well as the auction’s costs, this is still a signifiocantly higher price than crab fetches at the quayside in Norway.
The auction is also looking at taking deliveries of king crab from Norway, which should fetch even higher prices, as there are seafood traders and markets, as well as many seafood restaurants in both Denmark and parts of Europe that would welcome having both king crab and snow crab on the menu.
