Bananas need hot, sunny weather to grow well. Britain is often cool and cloudy — not ideal for bananas! Yet British shops are full of them. How? The answer is international trade.
No country can make everything
Every country has different weather, land and resources. A hot, sunny country might grow wonderful fruit but have little coal or wood. A country with huge forests might have plenty of wood but a climate too cold for growing bananas. Because no single country has everything it needs, countries trade with each other.
| Country type | Often good at producing |
|---|---|
| Hot, sunny countries | Fruits like bananas and cocoa (for chocolate) |
| Countries with big forests | Wood and paper |
| Countries with lots of factories and skilled workers | Machines, medicines and cars |
Exports and imports
When a country sells goods to another country, this is called an export. When a country buys goods from another country, this is called an import. Most countries do both: they export what they have plenty of, and import what they need but cannot easily make themselves.
Everyone can have more, together
Because countries specialise in producing what they are naturally good at, and then trade with each other, people everywhere can enjoy a much wider range of food, clothes and goods than any single country could ever produce alone. This is very similar to how workers specialise in different jobs within one country — just on a much bigger, worldwide scale.
Put the journey of a chocolate bar in order:
- Cocoa beans are grown on a farm in a hot country
- The cocoa beans are exported (sold) to a cooler country
- A factory in the cooler country turns the cocoa into chocolate
- The chocolate bar is sold in shops, and may even be exported to other countries too