Hong Kong  - Sales of hairy crab, a local delicacy, have surged this year as wealthy Hong Kong residents are more confident about the recovery in the economy and financial markets, a media report said Monday.

Hairy crabs, which can sell for up to 800 Hong Kong dollars (100 dollars) each in the city's restaurants, are seen as an economic barometer.

In good years, about half a million hairy crabs are sold when they are in season from October to December.

Sales of hairy crabs dropped about 20 per cent last year when US investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed at the start of the crab season.

"The resulting crash in the stock market meant many customers cancelled their tables or ordered cheaper crabs," Cheung Wing-kai, manager of the popular crab eatery Hong Kong Lao Shanghai Restaurant, told the South China Morning Post.

Crab dinners, where the crustaceans are steamed and the roe and meat eaten with vinegar, are popular with brokers and their clients.

With a revival in stock and home prices and optimism about the economic recovery, Cheung said sales are back to the volumes seen in the boom year of 2007.

Hairy crab is imported from the freshwater lake areas around Wuxi near Shanghai in mainland China. It takes about 18 months for the crab to grow to around 250 grams, a size that attracts the highest prices. (dpa)