About CITH
    Since 1981, the Textile and Clothing Information Center (C.I.T.H.) has provided statistical information on trade and production in textile and clothing. These statistics are important for strategic planning as well as for measuring the performance of the enterprise against the trends of the sector.


    Such statistical information essentially consists in EU imports/exports and production. The basic data are collected by Eurostat from national customs (imports and exports) or from panels of enterprises (production) and subsequently treated by the CITH.


    Over the years, computer programs have been developed which allow transforming the basic data into usable information of value to all those concerned with the evolution of trade and/or production. The regular information from the CITH includes trade statistics by products or partner country, comparison of imports with quotas and production by EU country/product and price information by product.


    Still, the available information is often insufficiently known and certainly underutilised. However, detailed data are available: perhaps not in a regular published form (the volume would be unmanageable) but the current Harmonized System nomenclature allows isolating, on request, the information concerning individual textile or clothing products. According to this nomenclature, it is possible to find out detailed trade statistics on textile by fibre content, weight, width or type of finishing, and on clothing articles and accessories for men/women by fibre…