IELTS WRITING TASK 1

The tables compare five European nations in terms of their Fairtrade-labelled coffee and bananas sales performance in the years 1999 and 2004.

Overall, in all five countries, the sales of Fairtrade coffee went up by varying degrees during the 5-year period. Although there were dramatic increases in the sales of Fairtrade bananas in the UK, Switzerland, Denmark, the pattern was reversed for Belgium and Sweden.

In 1999, Switzerland had the highest sales of Fairtrade coffee, at €3 million, and this figure doubled to €6 million in 2004. The lowest coffee sales was recorded in Sweden, rising to just €1 million 2004. In 2004, revenues from Fairtrade coffee saw a tenfold increase in the UK, with the figure increasing from €1.5 million in 1999 to €20 million in 2004. There were small increases in the sales of this product in Denmark and Belgium.

The highest sales revenue of Fairtrade bananas was seen in the UK, at €15 million in 1999, while the revenues from the other countries were far lower, ranging from €0.6 million to €2 million. In 2004, the sales of Fairtrade bananas tripled to €47 million, whereas the revenues from Switzerland and Denmark went up by five times. By contrast, the money spent on Fairtrade bananas fell nearly by half in Belgium and Sweden.