While the volume of fresh fruit and vegetables declined by 16 per cent in the first quarter, the wholesale value increased by 9.3 per cent, when compared to the same period last year, according to the National Statistics Office.

The NSO said that fresh fruit and vegetables supplied in the first quarter dropped to 8.4 million kilogrammes, from 10 million kilogrammes in the corresponding quarter last year.

On the other hand, the wholesale value rose by 9.3 per cent, from €5.2 million in the first quarter of 2011 to €5.7 million this year.

The volume of fresh vegetables fell by 15.3 per cent to 8 million kilogrammes over the comparative period last year.

Declines were registered in the supply of cauliflowers (-27.8 per cent), marrows (-22 per cent), potatoes (-13.9 per cent), dry onions (-33.5 per cent) and lettuce (-30 per cent).

In contrast, the wholesale value of fresh vegetables advanced by 13.4 per cent to €5.1 million.

During the period under review, the supply of fresh fruit declined by 28 per cent, mainly due to a drop in the supply of oranges (-34.2 per cent), sweet oranges (-29.3 per cent) and strawberries (-28 per cent).

Furthermore, the wholesale value of fresh fruit decreased by 16 per cent, to €0.6 million.

The volume of fresh fruit and vegetables supplied by Maltese farmers decreased by 14.6 per cent over the corresponding period in 2011

Maltese farmers supplied 7.8 million kilogrammes of fresh fruit and vegetables, or 92.2 per cent of the total supply.

The wholesale value of fresh fruit and vegetables rose by 12.1 per cent, from €4.6 million to €5.1 million.

Gozitan farmers contributed 0.7 million kilogrammes of fresh fruit and vegetables, or 7.8 per cent of the total supply.

The volume and wholesale of fresh fruit and vegetables declined by 29.2 and 10.6 per cent respectively over the comparative quarter last year.