Band 6+: 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.

The two tables report data on fairtrade-labelled coffee and bananas’ sales in European countries, in the year of 1999 and 2004. Overall, the purchase of the two products have increased drastically through the years.

Starting with coffee, the UK is the country in which its sale has increased the most, going up from 1.5 millions of euros in 1999, to 20 millions in 2004. Purchases of this product rose in all the examined countries: Switzerland coffee sales have doubled, starting from 3 millions in 1999, while in Belgium, Sweden and Denmark the rise was just of few millions or less.

Bananas’ sales got higher on average, but there are few exceptions. The purchase of this product went down for both Sweden and Denmark. The leading country in this case is Switzerland, whose sales almost tripled in five years. UK follows, even thought the purchase of bananas in 2004 was more than five times the one registered in 1999.