Import/export HS code 2106: General food preparations

Food products not listed elsewhere, including various ready-to-eat or ready-to-cook items

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 £
Germany 515,390,468
Netherlands 483,444,716
Denmark 403,565,033
Ireland 360,257,359
France 278,124,306

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 £
Germany 244,690,963 270,699,505 +26,008,542
Netherlands 235,212,105 248,232,611 +13,020,506
Denmark 208,583,592 194,981,441 -13,602,151
Ireland 181,589,199 178,668,160 -2,921,039
France 133,651,980 144,472,326 +10,820,346
Belgium 103,952,677 118,004,202 +14,051,525
United States 95,272,448 108,704,401 +13,431,953
China 79,064,051 88,130,523 +9,066,472
Italy 62,305,711 71,307,949 +9,002,238
Poland 48,345,172 55,722,448 +7,377,276

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 557,613,149
Denmark 409,600,249
Netherlands 335,166,691
Ireland 306,083,487
France 226,706,856

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 270,408,627 287,204,522 +16,795,895
Denmark 210,862,973 198,737,276 -12,125,697
Netherlands 161,814,963 173,351,728 +11,536,765
Ireland 156,154,054 149,929,433 -6,224,621
France 106,342,063 120,364,793 +14,022,730
United States 102,901,126 111,693,028 +8,791,902
China 87,025,909 95,743,087 +8,717,178
Belgium 73,174,948 91,571,079 +18,396,131
Italy 77,235,122 86,752,585 +9,517,463
Poland 58,249,011 67,034,828 +8,785,817

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 240
Outer London - West and North West 237
Inner London - East 200
Outer London - East and North East 144
Greater Manchester 126

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 178 186 +8
Outer London - West and North West 165 198 +33
Inner London - East 144 162 +18
Outer London - East and North East 100 111 +11
Greater Manchester 97 95 -2
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 96 91 -5
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 100 95 -5
Surrey, East and West Sussex 81 88 +7
West Midlands 77 80 +3
West Yorkshire 64 73 +9

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) 2,319,841,820
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 967,522,924
Air transport 254,048,576
Other 108,178,429
Road transport 12,006,026

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) 1,193,657,826 1,126,183,994 -67,473,832
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 388,627,182 578,895,742 +190,268,560
Air transport 113,020,848 141,027,728 +28,006,880
Other 60,702,724 47,475,705 -13,227,019
Road transport 4,755,626 7,250,400 +2,494,774
Rail transport 301,001 224,752 -76,249

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 736,174,018
Immingham Docks 616,401,195
Eurotunnel 333,936,810
Felixstowe 315,885,016
Liverpool Docks 242,203,161

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 341,730,750 394,443,268 +52,712,518
Immingham Docks 305,976,867 310,424,328 +4,447,461
Eurotunnel 165,632,474 168,304,336 +2,671,862
Felixstowe 160,737,403 155,147,613 -5,589,790
Liverpool Docks 132,418,633 109,784,528 -22,634,105
London 73,405,398 94,998,594 +21,593,196
Southampton 72,125,797 81,048,458 +8,922,661
Hull 58,948,400 62,153,211 +3,204,811
Dover / Eurotunnel 51,789,776 64,130,153 +12,340,377
000 60,702,724 47,475,705 -13,227,019

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 1125
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 637
Manufacture of food products 478
Food and beverage service activities 266
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 101

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-04 785
2026-03 790
2026-02 766
2026-01 729
2025-12 795

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 1008
0-1m 756
54m+ 432
15m-54m 244
Other 148

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 318,834,704
Ireland 275,514,692
Germany 264,885,372
China 214,410,304
United States 207,027,006

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 173,099,251 145,735,453 -27,363,798
Ireland 135,648,997 139,865,695 +4,216,698
Germany 126,997,318 137,888,054 +10,890,736
China 105,262,339 109,147,965 +3,885,626
United States 96,591,059 110,435,947 +13,844,888
France 102,200,830 99,275,037 -2,925,793
Australia 40,641,725 32,175,747 -8,465,978
United Arab Emirates 32,652,440 37,345,925 +4,693,485
Saudi Arabia 32,839,538 33,811,191 +971,653
Singapore 30,910,344 29,417,319 -1,493,025

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 61,271,006
Ireland 2,584,736
Poland 1,436,467
Canada 1,436,229
Italy 1,201,373

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 26,865,067 34,405,939 +7,540,872
Ireland 1,204,956 1,379,780 +174,824
Poland 875,120 561,347 -313,773
Canada 741,090 695,139 -45,951
Italy 606,757 594,616 -12,141
Germany 542,836 474,071 -68,765
France 384,299 178,336 -205,963
Belgium 207,559 330,329 +122,770
Malaysia 123,420 153,909 +30,489
Thailand 97,426 140,192 +42,766

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) 1,433,347,783
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 1,176,617,001
Air transport 249,983,565
Other 84,645,148
Rail transport 3,336,159

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) 713,123,029 720,224,754 +7,101,725
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 584,219,402 592,397,599 +8,178,197
Air transport 120,848,608 129,134,957 +8,286,349
Other 38,931,035 45,714,113 +6,783,078
Rail transport 1,178,156 2,158,003 +979,847
Road transport 70,821 9,181 -61,640

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 853,233,232
London Gateway Port 403,009,282
Southampton 242,754,909
Liverpool Docks 169,999,348
London Heathrow Airport 163,335,829

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 416,572,920 436,660,312 +20,087,392
London Gateway Port 169,533,964 233,475,318 +63,941,354
Southampton 121,783,628 120,971,281 -812,347
Liverpool Docks 103,246,047 66,753,301 -36,492,746
London Heathrow Airport 77,897,927 85,437,902 +7,539,975
Immingham Docks 83,215,388 78,435,032 -4,780,356
Felixstowe 68,853,704 58,756,653 -10,097,051
Hull 64,405,495 59,842,155 -4,563,340
Dover 59,751,093 43,279,127 -16,471,966
Holyhead 43,221,573 51,152,438 +7,930,865

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 2106

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

Description: Food products not listed elsewhere, including various ready-to-eat or ready-to-cook items