SYDNEY, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Crystal crab, a seafood delicacy only produced in deep-sea off the Western Australia (WA) coast, is going to be introduced to more gourmets at this year's China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai.

As one of the three main deep-sea fishery companies in WA, Oceanic Trading has a long history supplying Chinese restaurants both in Australia and China with their main products, the crystal crab, operation manager Morgan Hand told Xinhua.

Hand explained the main reasons why the crab is a highly sought-after crustacean among seafood lovers.

"It is a unique crab. Even after cooking, it still stays white color shell, not turning red (like other crab species). The shell is very thin with a lot of meat in it and the meat is very sweet."

The crystal crab can be supplied all year round and can weigh more than 2 kg, the big size of it could also contribute to its popularity, he added.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Hand said their company decided to come to Shanghai with their live crabs to attend this year's CIIE for the first time after they experienced solid demand from the Chinese market in the past.

Hand said the pandemic was affecting their business at the beginning of the year but the demand has gradually recovered since early April and has been especially good during China's National Day holiday in early October.

"Since the restaurants have been open again and the demand becomes pretty steady, especially at the early of this month, which is the golden week in China for the National Day, so it has been good recently," he said.

As a first-timer for the CIIE in early November, Hand said they simply like to explore the opportunity to promote their product and company to a wider range of Chinese consumers and see what will follow.

"Hopefully, some extra sales or new customers (will be good), could be anything," he said.