Import/export HS code 18: Cocoa and cocoa products

All types of cocoa items, including cocoa beans, cocoa powder, and chocolate preparations

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 1,413,981,096
Germany 1,402,154,691
Belgium 1,083,157,437
Ivory Coast 966,752,075
Poland 840,514,829

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 677,603,402 736,377,694 +58,774,292
Germany 669,309,732 732,844,959 +63,535,227
Belgium 550,693,102 532,464,335 -18,228,767
Ivory Coast 519,354,632 447,397,443 -71,957,189
Poland 406,815,711 433,699,118 +26,883,407
France 422,233,933 404,366,250 -17,867,683
Ireland 297,677,358 300,603,759 +2,926,401
Italy 254,080,031 296,423,443 +42,343,412
Switzerland 95,334,729 76,420,127 -18,914,602
Spain 71,273,345 76,009,340 +4,735,995

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 £
Germany 1,472,579,515
Netherlands 1,336,009,673
Ivory Coast 994,004,681
Poland 854,834,189
Belgium 750,300,204

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 £
Germany 704,373,889 768,205,626 +63,831,737
Netherlands 663,196,452 672,813,221 +9,616,769
Ivory Coast 507,340,608 486,664,073 -20,676,535
Poland 421,368,712 433,465,477 +12,096,765
Belgium 401,958,021 348,342,183 -53,615,838
France 290,735,869 328,833,561 +38,097,692
Italy 226,054,863 261,240,381 +35,185,518
Ireland 238,018,556 236,684,368 -1,334,188
Switzerland 107,861,186 115,544,547 +7,683,361
Ghana 60,147,472 104,702,141 +44,554,669

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 136
Outer London - West and North West 134
Inner London - East 122
Greater Manchester 107
Outer London - East and North East 97

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
Inner London - West 101 106 +5
Outer London - West and North West 106 101 -5
Inner London - East 94 98 +4
Greater Manchester 88 58 -30
Outer London - East and North East 79 76 -3
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 55 59 +4
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 50 52 +2
Surrey, East and West Sussex 42 42 +0
West Yorkshire 38 36 -2
Outer London - South 37 35 -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) 6,240,358,865
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 2,020,097,494
Other 545,439,293
Road transport 84,251,150
Air transport 39,318,147

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) 3,115,555,890 3,124,802,975 +9,247,085
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 926,966,292 1,093,131,202 +166,164,910
Other 245,876,732 299,562,561 +53,685,829
Road transport 32,210,639 52,040,511 +19,829,872
Air transport 20,160,527 19,157,620 -1,002,907
Rail transport 1,343,434 2,429,979 +1,086,545
Own propulsion (e.g. imported vehicle driven across land boundary) 0 8,366 +8,366

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 2,436,209,410
Eurotunnel 1,031,741,770
Liverpool Docks 1,019,891,113
Immingham Docks 980,325,097
London 798,214,706

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 £
Dover 1,216,538,840 1,219,670,570 +3,131,730
Eurotunnel 517,209,677 514,532,093 -2,677,584
Liverpool Docks 543,819,220 476,071,893 -67,747,327
Immingham Docks 421,278,933 559,046,164 +137,767,231
London 373,862,536 424,352,170 +50,489,634
000 245,834,253 299,243,865 +53,409,612
Dover / Eurotunnel 247,516,613 247,695,968 +179,355
London Gateway Port 120,752,106 176,598,633 +55,846,527
Middlesbrough 127,298,723 150,222,152 +22,923,429
Felixstowe 91,687,389 120,582,771 +28,895,382

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 691
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 422
Manufacture of food products 265
Food and beverage service activities 144
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 70

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 430
2026-04 426
2026-03 492
2026-02 458
2026-01 426

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 616
0-1m 407
54m+ 240
15m-54m 129
Other 111

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 £
Ireland 774,611,417
Netherlands 306,616,962
Poland 219,441,381
Belgium 187,171,392
Germany 142,380,205

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 £
Ireland 385,107,691 389,503,726 +4,396,035
Netherlands 167,700,838 138,916,124 -28,784,714
Poland 114,402,921 105,038,460 -9,364,461
Belgium 70,922,214 116,249,178 +45,326,964
Germany 55,658,018 86,722,187 +31,064,169
United States 46,388,719 48,780,140 +2,391,421
France 41,837,486 46,812,513 +4,975,027
Saudi Arabia 31,658,738 23,133,763 -8,524,975
United Arab Emirates 27,954,424 22,823,943 -5,130,481
Canada 24,169,492 26,167,244 +1,997,752

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 20,118,040
Ireland 8,449,332
France 4,277,067
Poland 3,166,826
Belgium 1,963,223

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 7,965,500 12,152,540 +4,187,040
Ireland 4,639,003 3,810,329 -828,674
France 705,572 3,571,495 +2,865,923
Poland 2,030,365 1,136,461 -893,904
Belgium 897,383 1,065,840 +168,457
Italy 867,173 1,019,983 +152,810
Netherlands 703,919 864,513 +160,594
Germany 745,223 792,286 +47,063
Luxembourg 519,214 672,927 +153,713
Switzerland 381,059 597,788 +216,729

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) 1,833,218,769
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 537,754,125
Other 76,330,880
Air transport 34,494,981
Rail transport 224,039

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) 893,401,043 939,817,726 +46,416,683
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 277,791,005 259,963,120 -17,827,885
Other 35,907,401 40,423,479 +4,516,078
Air transport 17,803,942 16,691,039 -1,112,903
Rail transport 220,279 3,760 -216,519
Road transport 27,614 0 -27,614

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 818,806,802
Liverpool Docks 507,755,079
London Gateway Port 260,265,665
Holyhead 248,925,197
Immingham Docks 142,188,832

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 390,723,116 428,083,686 +37,360,570
Liverpool Docks 261,664,484 246,090,595 -15,573,889
London Gateway Port 142,009,134 118,256,531 -23,752,603
Holyhead 119,641,365 129,283,832 +9,642,467
Immingham Docks 80,312,486 61,876,346 -18,436,140
Southampton 45,508,677 48,662,281 +3,153,604
Felixstowe 43,271,234 46,109,485 +2,838,251
000 35,883,275 40,250,822 +4,367,547
Middlesbrough 19,894,158 29,536,049 +9,641,891
Dover 21,955,096 25,805,765 +3,850,669

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 18

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

Description: All types of cocoa items, including cocoa beans, cocoa powder, and chocolate preparations