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 494,889,247
Netherlands 459,152,895
Denmark 383,834,150
Ireland 350,833,642
France 263,760,038

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 246,596,803 248,292,444 +1,695,641
Netherlands 233,379,235 225,773,660 -7,605,575
Denmark 208,620,293 175,213,857 -33,406,436
Ireland 184,969,843 165,863,799 -19,106,044
France 133,277,590 130,482,448 -2,795,142
Belgium 105,259,775 108,399,725 +3,139,950
United States 97,132,218 100,352,341 +3,220,123
China 77,683,301 84,081,057 +6,397,756
Italy 63,206,754 65,508,503 +2,301,749
Poland 49,198,792 51,240,565 +2,041,773

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 534,310,401
Denmark 389,268,989
Netherlands 319,237,209
Ireland 297,796,141
France 216,973,318

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 270,920,813 263,389,588 -7,531,225
Denmark 211,646,570 177,622,419 -34,024,151
Netherlands 161,709,848 157,527,361 -4,182,487
Ireland 158,238,086 139,558,055 -18,680,031
France 107,730,274 109,243,044 +1,512,770
United States 103,726,363 104,450,209 +723,846
China 85,382,042 91,213,873 +5,831,831
Belgium 73,618,892 86,022,941 +12,404,049
Italy 78,036,352 79,010,687 +974,335
Poland 59,388,950 61,168,742 +1,779,792

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 239
Outer London - West and North West 232
Inner London - East 192
Outer London - East and North East 140
Greater Manchester 129

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 183 184 +1
Outer London - West and North West 165 193 +28
Inner London - East 140 153 +13
Outer London - East and North East 104 108 +4
Greater Manchester 96 99 +3
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 97 92 -5
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 98 93 -5
Surrey, East and West Sussex 81 91 +10
West Midlands 77 82 +5
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 67 59 -8

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) 2,204,157,677
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 955,442,374
Air transport 244,491,564
Other 101,044,093
Road transport 11,763,835

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) 1,197,832,660 1,006,325,017 -191,507,643
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 394,634,531 560,807,843 +166,173,312
Air transport 113,918,073 130,573,491 +16,655,418
Other 62,208,068 38,836,025 -23,372,043
Road transport 5,050,080 6,713,755 +1,663,675
Rail transport 334,296 194,119 -140,177

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 705,302,141
Immingham Docks 590,652,335
Eurotunnel 318,987,012
Felixstowe 299,192,528
Liverpool Docks 234,282,763

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 343,970,728 361,331,413 +17,360,685
Immingham Docks 309,930,365 280,721,970 -29,208,395
Eurotunnel 168,302,532 150,684,480 -17,618,052
Felixstowe 153,727,664 145,464,864 -8,262,800
Liverpool Docks 131,997,135 102,285,628 -29,711,507
London 81,334,242 84,477,209 +3,142,967
Southampton 72,625,465 76,284,175 +3,658,710
Hull 57,196,479 57,822,631 +626,152
Dover / Eurotunnel 52,311,204 60,124,269 +7,813,065
London Heathrow Airport 43,762,029 59,182,941 +15,420,912

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
1121
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
628
Manufacture of food products
479
Food and beverage service activities
259
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities
100

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 810
2026-04 786
2026-03 791
2026-02 766
2026-01 729

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 997
0-1m 737
54m+ 425
15m-54m 248
Other 149

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 302,934,006
Ireland 265,518,065
Germany 259,401,119
China 207,210,998
United States 199,458,357

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 168,041,839 134,892,167 -33,149,672
Ireland 135,342,124 130,175,941 -5,166,183
Germany 131,818,791 127,582,328 -4,236,463
China 105,320,457 101,890,541 -3,429,916
United States 96,517,846 102,940,511 +6,422,665
France 102,498,602 90,321,451 -12,177,151
Australia 37,534,134 29,813,139 -7,720,995
United Arab Emirates 30,907,600 34,880,865 +3,973,265
Saudi Arabia 32,055,985 33,658,601 +1,602,616
Singapore 30,465,240 27,448,637 -3,016,603

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 59,906,360
Ireland 2,603,184
Canada 1,373,105
Poland 1,342,021
Italy 1,186,322

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 27,079,801 32,826,559 +5,746,758
Ireland 1,337,053 1,266,131 -70,922
Canada 719,848 653,257 -66,591
Poland 860,730 481,291 -379,439
Italy 638,172 548,150 -90,022
Germany 525,593 432,254 -93,339
Belgium 232,936 322,274 +89,338
France 298,918 171,435 -127,483
Malaysia 143,818 139,562 -4,256
Thailand 99,232 136,965 +37,733

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) 1,381,165,723
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 1,136,685,313
Air transport 240,922,994
Other 82,340,899
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) 713,743,002 667,422,721 -46,320,281
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 581,950,839 554,734,474 -27,216,365
Air transport 120,763,901 120,159,093 -604,808
Other 39,202,713 43,138,186 +3,935,473
Rail transport 1,178,156 2,158,003 +979,847
Road transport 27,277 3,307 -23,970

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 821,365,217
London Gateway Port 400,179,051
Southampton 233,971,839
London Heathrow Airport 157,691,324
Immingham Docks 156,467,582

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 414,487,487 406,877,730 -7,609,757
London Gateway Port 173,069,823 227,109,228 +54,039,405
Southampton 126,787,481 107,184,358 -19,603,123
London Heathrow Airport 76,371,439 81,319,885 +4,948,446
Immingham Docks 81,431,516 75,036,066 -6,395,450
Liverpool Docks 95,178,820 60,592,995 -34,585,825
Felixstowe 68,819,591 52,135,725 -16,683,866
Hull 64,552,213 54,965,705 -9,586,508
Dover 56,683,224 39,781,884 -16,901,340
Holyhead 42,812,964 48,333,215 +5,520,251

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