Import/export HS code 1209: Seeds, fruit, and spores for planting

Seeds, fruits, or spores used for growing plants, including vegetables, flowers, and grasses

Why this is important if you are looking for potential customers in the UK:

  • It helps you understand the market size for your product in the UK.
  • It provides you with a list of potential leads who have bought similar products.

* UK only, last 24 months analysed

Imports by country

What this shows: Import market volume by exporter country into the UK.

Top 5 values

Country £
Netherlands 118,950,161
Germany 63,222,868
Denmark 53,205,304
France 29,107,072
Italy 16,394,572

Countries rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Countries are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month volume, right side by second 12-month volume, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Country First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
Netherlands 60,894,528 58,055,633 -2,838,895
Germany 32,345,953 30,876,915 -1,469,038
Denmark 24,088,417 29,116,887 +5,028,470
France 15,064,138 14,042,934 -1,021,204
Italy 9,072,480 7,322,092 -1,750,388
United States 6,437,415 6,682,228 +244,813
New Zealand 5,252,871 4,668,914 -583,957
Israel 3,339,058 1,208,351 -2,130,707
Belgium 1,718,706 2,628,015 +909,309
Poland 2,345,219 1,708,875 -636,344

Imports by country of origin

What this shows: Import volume by production origin country. Differences from exporter-country data can indicate re-export routes.

Top 5 values

Origin £
Denmark 67,286,731
Germany 54,468,653
Netherlands 34,219,939
France 30,126,143
United States 26,323,425

Country of origin rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Origin countries are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month import value, right side by second 12-month import value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Origin First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
Denmark 32,211,991 35,074,740 +2,862,749
Germany 27,768,681 26,699,972 -1,068,709
Netherlands 16,754,795 17,465,144 +710,349
France 16,451,955 13,674,188 -2,777,767
United States 14,456,299 11,867,126 -2,589,173
New Zealand 11,902,171 12,896,574 +994,403
Italy 8,023,922 7,424,621 -599,301
Chile 6,761,432 6,063,901 -697,531
Poland 5,246,766 3,962,157 -1,284,609
Canada 4,145,273 3,820,562 -324,711

Importers across UK regions

What this shows: Number of importing companies by UK ITL2 region.

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Lincolnshire 22
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 15
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 12
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 9
Suffolk 9

UK regions rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: UK regions are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month importer count, right side by second 12-month importer count, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

UK region First 12m Second 12m Delta
Lincolnshire 20 15 -5
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 12 12 +0
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 9 11 +2
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 6 9 +3
Suffolk 5 8 +3
Norfolk 7 3 -4
Surrey, East and West Sussex 7 5 -2
Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 6 7 +1
Kent 4 5 +1
Inner London - West 4 6 +2

Import volume by transport

What this shows: Import value by transport mode used to bring goods into the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 198,647,739
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 77,576,318
Air transport 59,092,939
Other 2,436,238
Rail transport 413,878

Transport rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Transport modes are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month import value, right side by second 12-month import value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Transport First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 100,486,093 98,161,646 -2,324,447
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 39,179,889 38,396,429 -783,460
Air transport 29,866,594 29,226,345 -640,249
Other 1,009,978 1,426,260 +416,282
Rail transport 347,453 66,425 -281,028
Road transport 45,983 1,950 -44,033

Import volume by port

What this shows: Import value handled by each UK port.

Top 5 values

Port £
Immingham Docks 75,196,921
Dover 69,041,340
Felixstowe 61,938,535
East Midlands Airport 30,233,455
Harwich 16,990,675

Port rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Ports are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month import value, right side by second 12-month import value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Port First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
Immingham Docks 33,756,841 41,440,080 +7,683,239
Dover 38,251,331 30,790,009 -7,461,322
Felixstowe 29,266,932 32,671,603 +3,404,671
East Midlands Airport 14,216,669 16,016,786 +1,800,117
Harwich 8,831,806 8,158,869 -672,937
London Heathrow Airport 7,976,464 5,384,424 -2,592,040
London 5,321,500 6,936,091 +1,614,591
London Stansted Airport 4,428,105 5,198,706 +770,601
Eurotunnel 3,452,637 5,233,044 +1,780,407
Killingholme 7,201,711 474,691 -6,727,020

Importer companies by SIC division

What this shows: Industry breakdown (SIC divisions) of importing companies.

Top 5 values

SIC Companies
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
78
Crop and animal production, hunting and related service activities
70
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
31
Manufacture of food products
9
Other manufacturing
5

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 45
2026-04 59
2026-03 59
2026-02 66
2026-01 54

Top importers

What this shows: Companies with the highest number of months traded for this HS code.

Importer company size by revenue band

What this shows: Distribution of importers across company revenue bands.

Top 5 values

Revenue Companies
1m-15m 92
54m+ 41
0-1m 31
15m-54m 30
Other 5

Import seasonality

What this shows: Average monthly import pattern from historical data.

Exports by country

What this shows: Export market volume by destination country from the UK.

Top 5 values

Country £
Netherlands 10,657,759
Ireland 8,023,839
Spain 6,824,618
United States 5,283,176
Australia 5,073,328

Export countries rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Destination countries are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month export volume, right side by second 12-month export volume, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Country First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
Netherlands 5,583,278 5,074,481 -508,797
Ireland 3,584,783 4,439,056 +854,273
Spain 3,926,564 2,898,054 -1,028,510
United States 3,194,243 2,088,933 -1,105,310
Australia 3,275,953 1,797,375 -1,478,578
Morocco 2,773,336 0 -2,773,336
France 1,581,861 962,759 -619,102
Iran (Islamic Republic of) 1,113,196 976,727 -136,469
Canada 1,172,797 842,895 -329,902
Germany 1,066,313 457,368 -608,945

Exports by country of origin

What this shows: Export volume by production origin country. For re-exports, indicates where goods originated before UK export.

Top 5 values

Origin £
XI 349,529
China 27,671
Germany 21,944
Ireland 6,369
United States 2,460

Export origin countries rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Origin countries are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month export value, right side by second 12-month export value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Origin First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
XI 176,129 173,400 -2,729
China 11,795 15,876 +4,081
Germany 14,911 7,033 -7,878
Ireland 2,088 4,281 +2,193
United States 1,338 1,122 -216
Netherlands 854 0 -854
Poland 250 0 -250

Export volume by transport

What this shows: Export value by transport mode used to ship goods from the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 29,470,512
Air transport 21,839,519
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 9,464,647
Other 413,159
Road transport 16,897

Export transport rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Transport modes are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month export value, right side by second 12-month export value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Transport First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 15,703,716 13,766,796 -1,936,920
Air transport 13,281,006 8,558,513 -4,722,493
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 5,424,995 4,039,652 -1,385,343
Other 208,283 204,876 -3,407
Road transport 16,897 0 -16,897

Export volume by port

What this shows: Export value handled by each UK port.

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 15,451,924
London Heathrow Airport 11,339,587
Felixstowe 5,600,314
East Midlands Airport 5,118,100
London Gateway Port 4,802,595

Export port rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Ports are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month export value, right side by second 12-month export value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Port First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
Dover / Eurotunnel 9,015,242 6,436,682 -2,578,560
London Heathrow Airport 7,459,291 3,880,296 -3,578,995
Felixstowe 3,360,320 2,239,994 -1,120,326
East Midlands Airport 2,733,532 2,384,568 -348,964
London Gateway Port 2,942,326 1,860,269 -1,082,057
Holyhead 1,635,166 2,403,921 +768,755
London Stansted Airport 2,162,227 1,575,651 -586,576
Liverpool Docks 1,469,194 1,578,382 +109,188
Immingham Docks 729,312 913,377 +184,065
Southampton 635,845 700,043 +64,198

Related HS codes

What this shows: Sibling or child HS codes in the same classification branch.

Quick facts

HS code: 1209

Coverage: United Kingdom, most metrics for the last 24 months

Description: Seeds, fruits, or spores used for growing plants, including vegetables, flowers, and grasses