You should spend about 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.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
Overall, two brands improved their sales, two brands showed dramatic drops, and one brand had a mixed performance with a negative trend at the end of the period.
Overall, two brands improved their sales, two brands showed dramatic drops, and one brand had a mixed performance with a negative trend at the end of the period.
Overall, two brands improved their sales, two brands showed dramatic drops, and one brand had a mixed performance with a negative trend at the end of the period.
The two tables contain sales data for Fairtrade coffee and bananas in 1999 and 2004, in five nations of Europe.
The first table shows low-level coffee sales increasing in all five countries, albeit to widely varying degrees. In two places sales increased by the same small amount: 1.8-2 million euros in Denmark, and 0.8-1 million in Sweden. The increment was slightly larger in Belgium, from 1-1.7 million euros. Meanwhile, in Switzerland sales doubled from 3-6 million euros. Finally, in the UK there was an enormous increase, from 1.5-20 million euros.
In the second table, it is Switzerland which stands out as buying far more Fairtrade bananas than the other four countries. Swiss sales figures jumped from 15-47 million euros across these five years, while in the UK and Belgium sales only grew from 1-5.5 and from 0.6-4 million euros respectively. Sweden and Denmark showed a different pattern, with falls in banana sales from 1.8-1 and 2-0.9 million euros.
Comparing the two tables, it is clear that in 1999 Fairtrade coffee sales ranged from 0.8-3 million euros in these five countries, while banana sales also mostly clustered between 0.6 and 2 million euros, with Switzerland the outlier at a huge 15 million euros. By 2004, sales figures for both products had risen across the board, except for Sweden and Denmark which recorded drops in banana sales.
Grade: 9
This model has been prepared by an examiner as an example of a very good answer. However, please note that this is just one example out of many possible approaches.
