question 10

Questions 10-11 are based on the following.
Partly because of bad weather, but also partly because some major pepper growers have switched to high-priced cocoa, world production of pepper has been running well below worldwide sales for three years. Pepper is consequently in relatively short supply. The price of pepper has soared in response: it now equals that of cocoa.

Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?


A Pepper is a profitable crop only if it is grown on a large scale.
B World consumption of pepper has been unusually high for three years.
C World production of pepper will return to previous levels once normal weather returns
D Surplus stocks of pepper have been reduced in the past three years.
E The profits that the growers of pepper have made in the past three years have been unprecedented.