Band 5+: The two line graphs below show New Zealand import figures from Australia and Japan in the years 1994 - 2004. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. You should write at least 150 words.

The line graphs show the value of goods imported to New Zealand from two different countries, Japan and Australia, over a ten year period.

There appears to be two opposing trends displayed on the line graphs. The trend for Japan was downward with the country exporting goods worth 3 billion NZ$ in 1994 and 2 billion in 2004. On the other hand, Australia exhibited an upward trend, exporting 4 billion of goods at the beginning of the period and 8 billion at the end.

However, there was considerable fluctuation for both countries. When looking at imports from Japan we can see that the line graph is dominated by two large peaks in 1999 and 2000 and that between these years New Zealand imported a higher value of goods from Japan than Australia. Imports from Australia also fluctuated and they dipped twice. However, the strong recovery in the latter half of the period means they ended up exporting goods worth four times the value of those from Japan.

Overall, we can see that imports were far from stable from both countries but that exports from Japan decreased over time and those from Australia increased.