Drop in agricultural produce to September

There was a 4.5 per cent increase in the volume of fruit and vegetables passing through the organised markets during the third quarter of this year.

The increase was from 13.5 million kgs last year to 14.1 million kgs this year, the National Statistics Office said.

Meanwhile, the wholesale value of agricultural produce went down by Lm0.2 million or 9.1 per cent from Lm2.2 million to Lm2.0 million.

During this period, the volume of vegetables passing through the markets increased from 12.7 million to 13.2 million kgs, while the volume of fruit rose from 0.7 million kgs to 0.9 million kgs.

During the first nine months of 2003, there was a drop of 0.2 million kilogrammes in the volume of fruit and vegetables passing through the market, from 33.5 million to 33.3 million kilogrammes.

This represented a marginal drop of 0.5 per cent.

The wholesale value of this produce decreased marginally by Lm0.1 million, from Lm6.2 million to Lm6.1 million in the January/September period this year.

The NSO said that the 'all items' fresh vegetables price index in September stood at 105.6. When compared to the same period last year, the price index rose by 4.2 points or 4.1 per cent.

The 'all items' fresh fruit price index decreased by 9.8 points or 5.5 per cent from 176.3 points in September 2002 to 166.5 in September this year.