Fresh fruit and vegetable volumes drop by 10.5%

According to statistics published by the National Statistics Office (NSO), fresh fruit and vegetable supplies for the first quarter of 2011 dropped from 11.2 million kg to 10.1 million kg.

The wholesale value rose by 17.2%, amounting to €5.2 million.

NSO says the volume of fresh vegetables fell by 12% to 9.5 million kg over the same period in 2010. Declines were registered in the supply of tomatoes (-26.3%), cauliflower (-17.1%) and vegetable marrow (-9.9%).

The wholesale value of fresh vegetables rose by 21.3% to €44.8 million during the same period. The supply of fresh fruit registered an increase of 24.3%, mainly due to oranges (+36.7%) and sweet oranges (+33.6%).

The wholesale value of fresh fruit decreased by 3.4%, to €0.7 million.

NSO also reveals that Maltese farmers supplied 9.1 million kg of fresh fruit and vegetables, yielding €4.6 million, representing 90.6% of the total supply of fresh fruit and vegetables for the quarter under review.

Gozitan farmers supplied 0.9 million kilograms of fresh fruit and vegetables - 9.4 %of the total supply.  The wholesale value decreased by 1.1% over the comparative quarter in 2010.