Almost 12% more fresh fruit and vegetables sold in third quarter 2011

The National Statistics Office said that during the third quarter, the volume of fresh fruit and vegetables amounted to 13.6 million kilograms, showing an increase of 11.8%, when compared to the corresponding quarter last year.

The wholesale value of fruit and vegetables declined by 25.5%, amounting to €4.3 million compared with the same quarter of last year.

The volume of fresh vegetables rose by 10.3% to 12.4 million kilograms over the comparative quarter last year. Potatoes increased by 39.0%, sugar melons by 38.0%, watermelons by 23.1% and tomatoes also increased by 8.0%. On the other hand the wholesale value of fresh vegetables dropped by 27.6% to €3.6 million in the third quarter of 2011.

The supply of fresh fruit for the third quarter this year registered an increase of 31.1% due to an increase in the availability of peaches at 81.0%. Wholesale value of fresh fruit declined by 12.1% to €0.4 million.

Maltese farmers supplied 12.0 million kilograms of fresh fruit and vegetables amounting to a total €3.8 million in wholesale. Mainland farmers contributed 88.3 % of the total amount of fruit and vegetables on the market in the third quarter of 2011.

Gozitan farmers supplied 11.7%, 1.6 million kilograms of fresh fruit and vegetables. The wholesale value dropped by 32.4% to €0.8 million when compared with last year which amounted to €0.8 million.

The quarterly 'All Items’ fresh fruit price index for the third quarter dropped by 34.01 points (-32.5%) to stand at 70.57 points. During the third quarter of 2011, the fresh fruit volume index advanced by 40.54 points, or 31.1% to 170.71 points.

The quarterly 'All Items' fresh vegetables price index declined by 39.27 points (-76.28%) to 76.28 points in the third quarter of 2011.

The 'All Items' fresh vegetables volume index increased by 11.45 points (+10.3%) to 123.14 points in the third quarter of 2011.