Import/export HS code 27101981: Motor and lube oils

Oils used in engines, compressors, and turbines for lubrication

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 £
Belgium 173,595,615
Netherlands 102,768,440
Germany 84,308,185
United Arab Emirates 46,671,327
France 43,089,301

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 £
Belgium 98,414,705 75,180,910 -23,233,795
Netherlands 58,016,712 44,751,728 -13,264,984
Germany 49,403,660 34,904,525 -14,499,135
United Arab Emirates 39,881,689 6,789,638 -33,092,051
France 27,653,947 15,435,354 -12,218,593
Italy 5,878,259 3,384,636 -2,493,623
Spain 4,774,408 3,478,556 -1,295,852
Poland 2,341,805 1,899,481 -442,324
Turkey 1,590,296 1,687,444 +97,148
Lithuania 1,645,298 472,423 -1,172,875

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 £
Belgium 149,906,847
Netherlands 91,047,557
Germany 83,767,872
France 63,799,400
United Arab Emirates 47,026,916

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 £
Belgium 81,970,380 67,936,467 -14,033,913
Netherlands 55,737,829 35,309,728 -20,428,101
Germany 50,277,192 33,490,680 -16,786,512
France 37,259,071 26,540,329 -10,718,742
United Arab Emirates 40,108,166 6,918,750 -33,189,416
Italy 8,538,689 5,839,526 -2,699,163
Spain 6,843,430 5,162,937 -1,680,493
Canada 2,290,452 1,776,622 -513,830
Turkey 1,592,675 1,898,743 +306,068
Sweden 2,260,987 1,223,566 -1,037,421

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 6
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 5
Surrey, East and West Sussex 5
Cheshire 4
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 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
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 6 4 -2
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 3 4 +1
Surrey, East and West Sussex 3 4 +1
Cheshire 2 3 +1
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 4 3 -1
Inner London - East 3 2 -1
West Midlands 2 2 +0
West Yorkshire 3 2 -1
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 2 1 -1
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 2 2 +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) 246,951,156
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 233,058,017
Air transport 4,819,563
Other 2,370,842
Rail transport 1,204,112

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) 151,615,523 95,335,633 -56,279,890
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 139,568,818 93,489,199 -46,079,619
Air transport 2,758,664 2,060,899 -697,765
Other 1,454,564 916,278 -538,286
Rail transport 959,203 244,909 -714,294
Road transport 32,022 4,473 -27,549

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Immingham Docks 136,141,134
London 85,558,636
Dover 51,770,722
London Gateway Port 42,308,889
Felixstowe 33,886,656

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 77,297,152 58,843,982 -18,453,170
London 53,697,935 31,860,701 -21,837,234
Dover 31,785,270 19,985,452 -11,799,818
London Gateway Port 36,762,384 5,546,505 -31,215,879
Felixstowe 22,410,893 11,475,763 -10,935,130
Eurotunnel 18,510,246 14,631,837 -3,878,409
Harwich 9,458,425 14,155,221 +4,696,796
Dover / Eurotunnel 9,905,159 6,711,988 -3,193,171
Portsmouth 7,793,545 4,511,727 -3,281,818
Middlesbrough 5,459,356 3,292,865 -2,166,491

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 24
Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles 11
Manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products 7
Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities 6
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 5

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 23
2025-11 21
2025-10 19
2025-09 19
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+ 36
Other 13
1m-15m 12
15m-54m 9
0-1m 6

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 £
Iraq 54,591,261
Ireland 27,701,244
United States 9,277,600
Poland 8,010,290
Belgium 7,718,578

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 £
Iraq 28,111,817 26,479,444 -1,632,373
Ireland 16,212,993 11,488,251 -4,724,742
United States 2,994,417 6,283,183 +3,288,766
Poland 3,758,329 4,251,961 +493,632
Belgium 3,567,085 4,151,493 +584,408
Kazakhstan 7,535,793 0 -7,535,793
Finland 3,808,829 3,171,017 -637,812
France 3,048,691 1,412,077 -1,636,614
Slovenia 394,608 3,636,328 +3,241,720
Turkey 2,133,688 1,300,738 -832,950

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 2,291,223
Belgium 613,468
Germany 120,770
China 102,649
Spain 81,738

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 1,196,038 1,095,185 -100,853
Belgium 292,855 320,613 +27,758
Germany 59,765 61,005 +1,240
China 26,675 75,974 +49,299
Spain 74,938 6,800 -68,138
Italy 36,518 25,863 -10,655
Hungary 25,386 17,283 -8,103
France 14,173 17,483 +3,310
Ireland 6,881 18,629 +11,748
Sweden 1,175 543 -632

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) 106,047,922
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 85,060,979
Air transport 4,622,073
Other 3,670,139
Road transport 10,579

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) 55,461,007 50,586,915 -4,874,092
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 50,614,834 34,446,145 -16,168,689
Air transport 2,804,815 1,817,258 -987,557
Other 1,894,695 1,775,444 -119,251
Road transport 10,579 0 -10,579

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Gateway Port 56,616,295
Dover / Eurotunnel 52,577,877
Liverpool Docks 26,380,971
Felixstowe 21,511,085
Southampton 9,450,797

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 £
London Gateway Port 33,790,522 22,825,773 -10,964,749
Dover / Eurotunnel 33,050,774 19,527,103 -13,523,671
Liverpool Docks 13,046,936 13,334,035 +287,099
Felixstowe 8,421,010 13,090,075 +4,669,065
Southampton 4,947,277 4,503,520 -443,757
London 4,592,987 3,719,386 -873,601
Holyhead 3,654,734 2,625,368 -1,029,366
000 1,894,695 1,775,444 -119,251
Immingham Docks 1,516,747 1,204,949 -311,798
Harwich 193,317 2,475,648 +2,282,331

Quick facts

HS code: 27101981

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

Description: Oils used in engines, compressors, and turbines for lubrication