Import/export HS code 2505: Natural sands

Sands found in nature, used in construction, glass-making, and other industries

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 14,811,054
Germany 12,506,322
Belgium 9,839,552
Ireland 9,039,092
United States 4,401,740

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 8,267,836 6,543,218 -1,724,618
Germany 4,782,217 7,724,105 +2,941,888
Belgium 6,005,764 3,833,788 -2,171,976
Ireland 5,115,037 3,924,055 -1,190,982
United States 2,448,440 1,953,300 -495,140
Denmark 1,591,785 2,332,847 +741,062
Portugal 1,403,173 1,519,608 +116,435
Canada 1,150,921 635,348 -515,573
France 899,521 736,469 -163,052
China 412,400 329,219 -83,181

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 11,891,509
Belgium 8,898,932
Netherlands 8,158,443
Australia 7,187,604
Ireland 6,309,655

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 4,752,638 7,138,871 +2,386,233
Belgium 5,469,524 3,429,408 -2,040,116
Netherlands 4,150,704 4,007,739 -142,965
Australia 4,115,296 3,072,308 -1,042,988
Ireland 3,609,815 2,699,840 -909,975
United States 2,633,356 2,067,614 -565,742
Denmark 1,828,458 2,548,532 +720,074
Canada 1,133,551 618,041 -515,510
France 804,164 658,931 -145,233
Portugal 652,431 767,278 +114,847

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 10
West Yorkshire 5
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 4
Shropshire and Staffordshire 4
West Midlands 4

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
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 6 9 +3
West Yorkshire 5 3 -2
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 2 4 +2
Shropshire and Staffordshire 3 2 -1
West Midlands 3 2 -1
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 1 2 +1
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 3 2 -1
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 2 3 +1
Merseyside 2 2 +0
Surrey, East and West Sussex 2 3 +1

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) 30,439,519
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 27,704,230
Other 4,470,801
Air transport 540,188
Road transport 9,856

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) 17,252,032 13,187,487 -4,064,545
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 12,934,656 14,769,574 +1,834,918
Other 2,365,103 2,105,698 -259,405
Air transport 286,229 253,959 -32,270
Road transport 5,824 4,032 -1,792

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Immingham Docks 8,469,976
Blyth Harbour 6,409,133
Southampton 5,544,844
Holyhead 5,076,837
000 4,470,801

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 £
Immingham Docks 4,613,149 3,856,827 -756,322
Blyth Harbour 2,176,626 4,232,507 +2,055,881
Southampton 3,324,439 2,220,405 -1,104,034
Holyhead 2,888,634 2,188,203 -700,431
000 2,365,103 2,105,698 -259,405
Dover 2,448,920 1,910,030 -538,890
Felixstowe 2,236,936 1,743,821 -493,115
Goole 1,277,055 2,142,635 +865,580
London 1,537,367 1,870,211 +332,844
Eurotunnel 1,428,809 1,183,599 -245,210

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 26
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 11
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products 7
Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities 3
Financial service activities, except insurance and pension funding 3

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 15
2025-11 15
2025-10 23
2025-09 14
2025-08 20

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
54m+ 23
1m-15m 22
15m-54m 12
0-1m 10
Other 3

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 11,825,104
China 3,248,298
India 2,962,948
Germany 1,028,873
Thailand 1,002,153

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 6,534,596 5,290,508 -1,244,088
China 1,574,732 1,673,566 +98,834
India 1,609,234 1,353,714 -255,520
Germany 924,560 104,313 -820,247
Thailand 476,764 525,389 +48,625
Poland 337,476 310,689 -26,787
United Arab Emirates 30,149 462,535 +432,386
France 161,737 249,228 +87,491
Saudi Arabia 240,558 122,408 -118,150
Sweden 130,640 210,477 +79,837

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 9,500,996
Ireland 220,904
Spain 21,137
China 12,405
Germany 6,534

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 5,240,377 4,260,619 -979,758
Ireland 122,434 98,470 -23,964
Spain 21,137 0 -21,137
China 7,191 5,214 -1,977
Germany 4,102 2,432 -1,670
South Africa 701 971 +270
Malaysia 677 705 +28
Turkey 760 0 -760
Italy 432 0 -432
Netherlands 202 130 -72

Export volume by transport

What this shows: Export value by transport mode used to ship goods from the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 10,365,986
Other 9,832,566
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 6,192,682
Air transport 399,831
Rail transport 8,360

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 £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 5,255,236 5,110,750 -144,486
Other 5,434,740 4,397,826 -1,036,914
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 3,174,974 3,017,708 -157,266
Air transport 257,982 141,849 -116,133
Rail transport 8,360 0 -8,360

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
000 9,832,566
Southampton 4,614,708
Felixstowe 3,225,218
Dover / Eurotunnel 3,122,380
London Gateway Port 1,852,226

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 £
000 5,434,740 4,397,826 -1,036,914
Southampton 2,402,197 2,212,511 -189,686
Felixstowe 1,784,976 1,440,242 -344,734
Dover / Eurotunnel 1,695,590 1,426,790 -268,800
London Gateway Port 599,878 1,252,348 +652,470
Liverpool Docks 529,240 458,716 -70,524
Immingham Docks 313,420 524,784 +211,364
Holyhead 259,952 259,335 -617
Heysham 168,672 152,789 -15,883
Harwich 88,359 102,700 +14,341

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 2505

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

Description: Sands found in nature, used in construction, glass-making, and other industries