Crayfish chefs in hot demand in Central China

China's first batch of college students majoring in crayfish studies have all secured jobs with average monthly salaries reaching more than 10,000 yuan ($1,457), Hubei Daily reported on Friday.

The 35 graduates, who have studied crayfish cooking for two years, on Thursday obtained vocational degrees from Qianjiang Crayfish School in Central China's Hubei province.

The school first introduced three majors related to the cooking, marketing and management of crayfish in 2017 and became the first and only college nurturing talent for the crayfish industry.

Wang Zhongqiu, a teacher at the school, said most of the graduates secured jobs earlier this year, with their salaries ranging from 6,000-12,000 yuan per month, due to demand for crayfish chefs.

It is quite common for crayfish chefs with more than three years' experience to earn 30,000-50,000 yuan a month, he said, adding that the school plans to enroll another 200 students in crayfish-related majors this year.

According to a report by Mycos, an educational research company, the average monthly salary for college graduates in China was 4,624 yuan in 2018.

China had a crayfish market worth around 268.5 billion yuan in 2017, up more than 83 percent year-on-year, according to a report by the bureau of fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

China is the world's largest producer of crayfish, with an annual production of around 1.13 billion tons in 2017, the report said.