According to the Italian yarn exhibition Pitti Immagine headquarters, sales of Italian yarn in 2007 reached no more than 3.274 billion euros, dropping 4.5% from the previous year. The breakdown is; wool yarn 79%, cotton yarn 18.5% and linen yarn 2.5%. Exports accounted for 47.3 %( it was 47.6% last year) of total sales. Sales of Italian yarn continued to ride high from 2001 to 2005, but decreased by 0.6% in 2006 from the previous year and by 4.5% in 2007, alarming the industry.

The import of yarns accounted for 43.8% (it was 42.5% last year and 37.8% in 2005) of yarns supplied domestically, showing increasingly intense competition with imported yarns year after year.