During the second quarter in 2004, 324,088 kilograms of fresh fish were landed at the official fish market, an increase of 33,880 kilograms or 11.7 per cent when compared to the same quarter last year, reported Malta’s National Statistics Office (NSO).
The increase in fish landings was the result of a substantial growth in the swordfish landings, which registered an increase of 31,216 kilograms or 98.3 per cent and tuna landings, which increased by 7,969 kilograms or 3.8 per cent. On the other hand, shrimp landings dropped by 7,343 kilograms or 51.1 per cent from 14,371 kilograms in the June quarter of 2003 to 7,028 kilograms in the June quarter this year.
Notwithstanding the increase in volume in the June quarter, the wholesale value declined marginally by Lm 14,302 (-1.8 per cent) from Lm 799,420 in the second quarter last year to Lm 785,118 in the second quarter this year.
Increases of Lm 102,763 (+113.8 per cent) in the wholesale value of swordfish landings were off-set by considerable declines in the wholesale value of shrimp and tuna landings. These dropped by Lm 41,610 (-39.0 per cent) and Lm 77,525 14.9 per cent) respectively, when compared to the same period last year.
In the period under review, Maltese fishermen landed a total of 292,864 kilograms or 90.4 per cent of the total landings.
Tuna and swordfish landings accounted for 192,139 kilograms or 65.6 per cent and 61,046 or 20.8 per cent kilograms of all landings respectively.
Although tuna landings increased by 3.5 per cent when compared to the same period last year, the relative share of tuna landings fell due to the heavy increase in the volume of swordfish landings of 109.1 per cent. Whereas there was an increase in the wholesale volume and value of Maltese fishermen, the Gozitan counterparts registered a drop both in volume and value when compared to the same quarter last year. While the volume of landings declined by 7,027 kilograms or 18.4 per cent from 38,251 kilograms to 31,224 kilograms, the wholesale value declined by Lm 38,000 or 34.9 per cent from Lm 108,945 to Lm 70,945. Declines in the wholesale value of shrimp by 69.0 per cent, swordfish by 9.3 per cent, and tuna by 15.6 per cent were mainly responsible for this drop.
When compared to the month of June in 2003, the 'All Items' fresh fish price index in the month of June stood at 128.0, down by 22.9 points or 15.2 per cent. The decline in the price index was mainly due to the decline in the average unit price of tuna. This dropped by 22.7 per cent, from Lm 2.163 per kilogram in June 2003 to Lm 1.671 per kilogram in June this year. The declines in tuna by 18.6 per cent landings were practically offset by the increase in the volume of swordfish landings by 94.0 per cent when compared with the same month of 2003.