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 15,957,221
Ireland 9,929,494
Netherlands 9,845,902
South Korea 4,449,542
France 4,232,940

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 7,414,688 8,542,533 +1,127,845
Ireland 4,849,597 5,079,897 +230,300
Netherlands 8,534,154 1,311,748 -7,222,406
South Korea 2,678,324 1,771,218 -907,106
France 2,226,201 2,006,739 -219,462
Belgium 960,578 1,094,994 +134,416
Germany 1,123,199 862,946 -260,253
Malaysia 1,629,853 255,869 -1,373,984
United States 489,404 1,259,315 +769,911
South Africa 690,962 1,005,719 +314,757

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 17,841,294
Ireland 8,191,212
South Korea 4,881,897
France 3,261,306
Malaysia 1,888,056

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 8,324,439 9,516,855 +1,192,416
Ireland 4,045,126 4,146,086 +100,960
South Korea 2,862,801 2,019,096 -843,705
France 1,762,058 1,499,248 -262,810
Malaysia 1,629,853 258,203 -1,371,650
South Africa 744,968 1,020,907 +275,939
United States 497,532 1,169,400 +671,868
Belgium 639,027 790,877 +151,850
Iceland 692,336 724,541 +32,205
Japan 838,563 533,873 -304,690

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 51
Inner London - East 31
Outer London - East and North East 28
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 41 35 -6
Inner London - East 21 25 +4
Outer London - East and North East 20 18 -2
Inner London - West 16 16 +0
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 14 12 -2
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) 31,861,239
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 21,049,165
Other 9,784,735
Air transport 5,640,930
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) 16,080,256 15,780,983 -299,273
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 11,153,579 9,895,586 -1,257,993
Other 8,461,298 1,323,437 -7,137,861
Air transport 2,892,528 2,748,402 -144,126
Road transport 14,343 62,601 +48,258

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Felixstowe 14,045,302
Southampton 11,373,576
000 9,784,735
Dover 5,477,896
Holyhead 4,463,346

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 6,116,009 7,929,293 +1,813,284
Southampton 6,857,564 4,516,012 -2,341,552
000 8,461,298 1,323,437 -7,137,861
Dover 2,929,048 2,548,848 -380,200
Holyhead 2,094,695 2,368,651 +273,956
Liverpool Docks 2,168,171 1,656,054 -512,117
London Heathrow Airport 1,841,090 1,655,415 -185,675
London Gateway Port 1,028,723 1,839,356 +810,633
Eurotunnel 1,244,926 940,546 -304,380
London 1,006,410 576,728 -429,682

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
199
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 81
54m+ 62
15m-54m 49
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 4,390,894
Ireland 3,628,228
Germany 2,234,778
Netherlands 1,912,061
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 2,366,505 2,024,389 -342,116
Ireland 3,092,966 535,262 -2,557,704
Germany 1,239,354 995,424 -243,930
Netherlands 1,106,483 805,578 -300,905
Austria 207,567 954,366 +746,799
France 772,085 384,766 -387,319
Italy 576,536 184,080 -392,456
Russia 351,449 332,898 -18,551
Japan 405,845 119,070 -286,775
Canada 241,335 281,165 +39,830

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 2,416,030
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 2,364,064 51,966 -2,312,098
Netherlands 12,322 0 -12,322
Ireland 198 334 +136
Spain 0 291 +291
Japan 0 186 +186
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) 10,290,038
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 8,890,676
Other 2,467,376
Air transport 2,296,899
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) 5,875,863 4,414,175 -1,461,688
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 4,364,494 4,526,182 +161,688
Other 2,393,477 73,899 -2,319,578
Air transport 1,437,728 859,171 -578,557
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 7,259,183
Southampton 3,868,133
Grangemouth Docks 2,599,831
000 2,467,376
London Heathrow Airport 1,290,419

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 4,061,552 3,197,631 -863,921
Southampton 1,837,831 2,030,302 +192,471
Grangemouth Docks 1,377,293 1,222,538 -154,755
000 2,393,477 73,899 -2,319,578
London Heathrow Airport 912,963 377,456 -535,507
London Gateway Port 644,400 598,166 -46,234
Immingham Docks 451,718 414,175 -37,543
Dover 564,049 229,473 -334,576
Liverpool Docks 478,473 257,669 -220,804
Holyhead 196,574 274,526 +77,952

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