IELTS Writing Task 1 - Graph Chart Table - Dealing with two tables - Topic: Earnings from Imported Products
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.
*Fairtrade: a category of products for which farmers from developing countries have been paid an officially fair price.
The tables illustrate the difference between 1999’s and 2004’s receipts earned from the European consumption of two imported agricultural products that are under Fairtrade standards, including coffee and bananas. Overall, over the five-year period, an upward trend in the sales of Fairtrade-certified goods was witnessed in Europe; and while the UK was the leading country in terms of coffee purchases, Switzerland dominated the Fairtrade bananas' markets.
Fairtrade-labelled coffee was seen to be most popular among the Swiss, with a total sales of $3.0 million in 1999. However, in 2004, the UK grew notable likings to this good, whose sales rose by more than 10 times, achieving an impressive $20 million in earnings and thus taking over the 1st place from Switzerland. Despite being outperformed by the UK, Fairtrade coffee’s profitability in Switzerland was on a good trajectory, displayed by a twofold jump from 1999's records. Denmark, Belgium and Sweden experienced negligible growth compared to the other two nations. In fact, their combined revenue of $5 million was only one-fourth of UK’s total sales in 2004.
With regards to Fairtrade-labelled bananas, Switzerland consistently stayed at the top of the chart across the two years, with a remarkable gap of at least 7 times between its sales and others'. By 2004, the UK and Belgium had seen a drastic surge in bananas' receipts, growing by 5 and 4 times respectively. Nevertheless, their combined earnings, approximately $10 million, was nowhere near as much as Switzerland’s, at 47 million, a triple from 1999. By contrast, significant loss prevailed in both Sweden and Denmark, whose sales dropped roughly by half and ended up at roughly $1 million in 2004.
