Import/export HS code 1212: Locust beans, seaweeds, and other plants for food

Fresh, chilled, frozen, or dried plants like locust beans, seaweed, sugar beet, sugar cane, and chicory roots, used mainly for human food

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 £
China 17,031,580
Netherlands 10,998,453
Ireland 10,125,745
South Korea 4,653,025
France 4,450,184

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 £
China 8,117,667 8,913,913 +796,246
Netherlands 9,513,264 1,485,189 -8,028,075
Ireland 4,556,632 5,569,113 +1,012,481
South Korea 2,763,649 1,889,376 -874,273
France 2,244,886 2,205,298 -39,588
Malaysia 1,879,125 255,869 -1,623,256
Belgium 997,921 1,118,411 +120,490
Germany 1,111,442 957,664 -153,778
South Africa 812,450 1,062,342 +249,892
United States 485,418 1,276,787 +791,369

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 £
China 18,935,914
Ireland 8,361,279
South Korea 5,093,704
France 3,422,953
Malaysia 2,137,328

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 £
China 9,033,149 9,902,765 +869,616
Ireland 3,784,910 4,576,369 +791,459
South Korea 2,945,495 2,148,209 -797,286
France 1,797,105 1,625,848 -171,257
Malaysia 1,879,125 258,203 -1,620,922
South Africa 862,106 1,084,262 +222,156
United States 491,916 1,188,502 +696,586
Iceland 815,288 724,541 -90,747
Belgium 694,645 794,119 +99,474
Japan 840,385 564,304 -276,081

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Outer London - West and North West 53
Inner London - East 31
Outer London - East and North East 29
Inner London - West 21
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 16

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
Outer London - West and North West 43 36 -7
Inner London - East 23 26 +3
Outer London - East and North East 20 19 -1
Inner London - West 15 17 +2
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 13 13 +0
Outer London - South 9 13 +4
Surrey, East and West Sussex 12 9 -3
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 12 8 -4
Greater Manchester 7 10 +3
Kent 9 9 +0

Import volume by transport

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

Top 5 values

Transport £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 33,579,271
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 22,060,382
Other 10,868,350
Air transport 6,018,178
Road transport 76,944

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 £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 17,014,927 16,564,344 -450,583
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 11,090,907 10,969,475 -121,432
Other 9,435,089 1,433,261 -8,001,828
Air transport 3,127,654 2,890,524 -237,130
Road transport 12,879 64,065 +51,186

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Felixstowe 14,916,087
Southampton 12,034,339
000 10,868,350
Dover 5,832,739
Holyhead 4,575,089

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 £
Felixstowe 6,500,551 8,415,536 +1,914,985
Southampton 7,373,832 4,660,507 -2,713,325
000 9,435,089 1,433,261 -8,001,828
Dover 2,945,512 2,887,227 -58,285
Holyhead 1,898,864 2,676,225 +777,361
Liverpool Docks 2,205,385 1,779,797 -425,588
London Heathrow Airport 2,046,226 1,722,961 -323,265
London Gateway Port 1,046,741 2,007,834 +961,093
Eurotunnel 1,159,729 1,097,558 -62,171
London 997,844 602,793 -395,051

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
201
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
90
Manufacture of food products
65
Food and beverage service activities
24
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities
9

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 77
2026-04 71
2026-03 76
2026-02 78
2026-01 69

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 154
0-1m 82
54m+ 64
15m-54m 50
Other 15

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 £
United States 4,857,924
Ireland 3,909,826
Germany 2,267,415
Netherlands 2,017,837
Austria 1,161,933

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 £
United States 2,639,314 2,218,610 -420,704
Ireland 3,331,901 577,925 -2,753,976
Germany 1,231,670 1,035,745 -195,925
Netherlands 1,177,961 839,876 -338,085
Austria 171,209 990,724 +819,515
France 657,136 500,657 -156,479
Italy 577,461 186,080 -391,381
Russia 351,449 332,898 -18,551
Japan 438,298 119,070 -319,228
Canada 237,670 294,052 +56,382

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 2,624,262
Netherlands 12,322
Ireland 532
Spain 291
Japan 186

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 2,570,266 53,996 -2,516,270
Netherlands 12,322 0 -12,322
Ireland 198 334 +136
Spain 0 291 +291
Japan 0 186 +186
Nicaragua 150 0 -150
China 109 0 -109
South Korea 0 86 +86

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) 10,536,246
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 9,549,636
Other 2,677,664
Air transport 2,448,440
Road transport 891

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) 5,642,541 4,893,705 -748,836
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 4,767,475 4,782,161 +14,686
Other 2,600,317 77,347 -2,522,970
Air transport 1,547,326 901,114 -646,212
Road transport 891 0 -891

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 7,416,582
Southampton 4,285,964
000 2,677,664
Grangemouth Docks 2,632,284
London Heathrow Airport 1,393,880

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 3,882,402 3,534,180 -348,222
Southampton 2,068,812 2,217,152 +148,340
000 2,600,317 77,347 -2,522,970
Grangemouth Docks 1,409,746 1,222,538 -187,208
London Heathrow Airport 1,004,978 388,902 -616,076
London Gateway Port 726,298 642,568 -83,730
Immingham Docks 459,313 479,311 +19,998
Dover 546,644 250,970 -295,674
Liverpool Docks 512,309 275,013 -237,296
Holyhead 208,894 290,316 +81,422

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 1212

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

Description: Fresh, chilled, frozen, or dried plants like locust beans, seaweed, sugar beet, sugar cane, and chicory roots, used mainly for human food