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.

The line graphs represent the change in import figures in New Zealand from

Australia

and

Japan

over a decade from 1994 to 2004. Looking at the details,

imports

from

Australia

were higher than those from

Japan

at the beginning of the period. Despite falling sharply to NZ$ 3000 million, the number of goods bought from

Australia

plunged in 1999. After that,

imports

from abroad reached a plateau by doubling their starting value, which was closer to NZ$ 4000 million.

By contrast

,

imports

from

Japan

finished slightly lower than they started. The variation in

imports

showed two clear peaks in 1997 and 2000, the former having the highest value, which is closer to NZ$ 6250 million. It is interesting to note that

at the end

of the period,

imports

from

Australia

were four times higher than those from

Japan

. The reason for

this

huge gap might have been the trade agreements with these two countries at the beginning of the 21st century.

Overall

, it is clear from the plots that

imports

from both countries fluctuated over the given period of years.