Question –
WRITING TASK 1
You should spend 20 minutes on this task.
The tables below give information about sales of Fairtrade*-labelled coffee and bananas in 1999 and 2004 in five European countries.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
You should write at least 150 words.
Answer –
The tables display how many millions of euros worth of coffee and bananas were sold, under the label of Fairtrade products, in five nations in Europe.
Overall, the sales of coffee and bananas went up in all the nations, except for the sales of bananas in Sweden and Denmark, where the figures dropped over the period in question. Moreover, the sales of coffee saw the most substantial increase in the UK, while the highest growth in sales of bananas was witnessed in Denmark over the recorded period.
In terms of coffee sales, in the UK, the value started at 1.5 million euros in 1999 and it then increased exponentially to € 20 million in 2004. The sales for Switzerland doubled from 3 million euros to 6 million euros, while the figures for Denmark, Belgium, and Sweden ranged from 0.8 million euros to 2 million euros during the period.
Regarding trade in bananas, Switzerland’s value accounted for 15 million euros in 1999, and after that, the sales roughly tripled to 47 million euros in 2004. Similarly, the UK and Belgium values skyrocketed by around six times, as the former’s amount rose to €5.5 million and the latter’s to €4 million. In contrast, the sales in Sweden and Denmark roughly halved to 1 million euros and 0.9 million euros, respectively.