Standard International Trade Classification

Countries collect data on industrial activity for national income accounting. A record of trade data, in the form of exports and imports, is also maintained. In order to make such data from across the globe comparable, certain rules are adhered to for classification of traded commodities and the economic activities undertaken. Statistics division of United Nation's Department of Economic and Social Affairs has introduced such classifications with the approval of countries from across the world. Revised versions of these classifications have been issued over the years as per requirement.

SITC (Standard International Trade Classification) is a five level classification for segregating different products into specific categories. Revision 4 of this classification was promulgated in 2006. At subsequent levels, products are classified under 10 sections, 67 divisions, 262 groups, 1023 subgroups and 2970 basic headings.

For instance, the code for Peas under this classification is 054.21

This can be explained as follows:

Section                     0   (Food and live animals)
Division                05 (Vegetables and Fruit)
Group                  054 (Vegetables, fresh, chilled, frozen or                  
                                  
simply preserved)

Subgroup             054.2    (leguminous vegetables)
Basic heading        054.21   (Peas)