PART TWO · Read the following text. ·
Choose the best sentence from A—H to fill in each of the gaps. ·
For each gap 9—14, mark one letter A—H. · Do not use any letter
more than once.
Chile has become one of Europe’s favorite sourcing countries for fruit and
vegetables. In fact it has taken less than ten years for Chile to establish
itself as Latin America’s largest exporter of fruit and vegetables, with Europe
the largest consumer. Fresh produce exports are one of the country’s main growth
sectors, (9) . Much of the country’s agriculture is
carried out in the fertile Maipo Valley, (10) . The
Mediterranean climate and fertile soil provide ideal growing conditions, helped
by a comparative absence of insects and disease. Being located in the southern
hemisphere is another advantage and, at certain times of the year, (11)
. The Chileans recognize that investment is the key to
continued success, and have invested heavily in food-processing and packaging
technology in order to build up sales of value-added foods, (12)
, in addition to the original juices and jams. Raspberries are their
largest frozen fruit export. There has been a dramatic rise in the export sales
of frozen fruit and vegetables, (13) . A very
important player in this success story has been the Frutos del Maipo
Corporation. Frutos del Maipo was formed in 1978, originally to provide fruit
for jam producers in Chile. Using both fresh and frozen fruit, it now supplies
the national industry all year round, as well as the principal markets of
Europe, the USA and Japan. Its sales last year reached 8,000 tons and were
valued at US $12m, representing 30% of the Chilean market. The UK is
Chile’s fourth largest European importer of frozen produce, (14)
. The distance between Santiago and the UK means that most of this
fruit and vegetable cargo is transported by air. British airways has benefited
from the dramatic increase in exports to the UK, adding a third direct weekly
flight to Santiago. BA’s World Cargo Division has seen a 45% growth in the
movement of fresh goods from Chile to the UK in the last year. According to
Rodrigo Casal of British Airways World Cargo, this trade between Chile and the
UK will continue to grow at a rapid rate. A. which have increased by as much
as 4000% in some cases B. importing over three million tons, valued at US $
6m C. which is the largest importer in Asia D. which is also famous as a
wine-growing area E. but Chile doesn’t export bananas, apples and
oranges F. such as frozen and tinned fruit and vegetables G. with over 36
million tons of fruit and seven million tons of vegetables exported world-wide
each year H. fruit such as grapes and certain vegetables can be obtained only
from Chile