Sample IELTS Academic Writing Task 1: Tabulated data

The given diagram comprises a couple of tables providing us information regarding sales of coffee and bananas, which are Fairtrade-labelled. The data pertains to two years namely, 1999 and 2004, shown in the middle and extreme right columns respectively. The study/survey was conducted in 5 developed European nations: Switzerland, the UK, Belgium, Sweden, and Denmark.

It is quite clear from the first table that coffee sales in Switzerland doubled 2004 when compared with 1999. Sales in Denmark, Belgium, and Sweden also increased over the period, though only marginally. The UK was simply unbelievable, leapfrogging from a mere 1.5 to a staggering 20 million euros  over the period.

In the sale of bananas, however, Switzerland and the UK have swapped places with the former showing a more than 300% jump to as much as 47 million euros in 2004. Sure, the percentage increase is more in the case of the UK, but its total sales figure in 2004 at 5.5 million euros is lesser than Switzerland's by over 9 times.

Thus, it becomes quite evident that in both the coffee as well as banana markets, Switzerland and the UK have shown significant increase in their toplines over the given period. Denmark, Belgium and Sweden are, it seems, content to slug it out for the third spot.