Volume, price of fish up in second quarter

The volume and wholesale value of fish landings rose by 2.9 and 16.1 per cent respectively in the second quarter of this year over the corresponding period in 2007.

A total of 257,669 kilograms of fresh fish were landed at the fish market. The general increase in volume resulted mainly from more blue fin tuna landings (+13.5 per cent), which was partially offset by a decline in the volume of swordfish of 24.2 per cent.

The wholesale value of fresh fish landed rose by €286,013 to reach €2,067,648, mainly due to increases in the price and volume of blue fin tuna landings.

Foreign-flagged vessels landed a total of 6,486 kilograms (+134.5 per cent) from 2,766 kilograms in 2007 to 6,486 kilograms this year. Over the same period, the wholesale value of foreign vessel landings increased by 39.5 per cent from €19,611 to €27,362.

The quarterly all items fresh fish price index for the second quarter stood at 148.65 points, up by 23.12 points (+18.4 per cent) over the corresponding quarter in 2007. The quarterly all items fresh fish volume index increased slightly by 2.14 points (+2.9 per cent) to 77.10 points in the second quarter of this year.