Import/export HS code 2901: Acyclic Hydrocarbons

Simple carbon-based chemicals with no rings in their structure. Used as fuels, solvents, and in making other chemicals

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 £
United States 395,137,733
Belgium 44,094,119
Latvia 35,881,734
Netherlands 28,256,915
Germany 24,020,046

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 £
United States 215,475,439 179,662,294 -35,813,145
Belgium 23,402,464 20,691,655 -2,710,809
Latvia 18,131,186 17,750,548 -380,638
Netherlands 12,904,992 15,351,923 +2,446,931
Germany 13,827,582 10,192,464 -3,635,118
China 9,822,085 10,187,168 +365,083
Spain 6,195,062 1,659,521 -4,535,541
South Korea 1,632,622 3,769,121 +2,136,499
France 2,005,224 1,908,033 -97,191
Italy 760,713 2,815,445 +2,054,732

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 £
United States 403,633,316
Lithuania 35,873,444
Belgium 34,021,701
Germany 27,803,903
China 20,178,032

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 £
United States 217,702,948 185,930,368 -31,772,580
Lithuania 18,130,192 17,743,252 -386,940
Belgium 19,660,121 14,361,580 -5,298,541
Germany 14,755,635 13,048,268 -1,707,367
China 9,730,862 10,447,170 +716,308
Netherlands 9,156,084 10,526,078 +1,369,994
Spain 6,643,706 2,191,490 -4,452,216
South Korea 3,226,322 3,970,181 +743,859
Libya 3,348,022 0 -3,348,022
Ireland 391,250 2,045,037 +1,653,787

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Essex 9
Surrey, East and West Sussex 9
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 7
Kent 7
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 7

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
Essex 5 8 +3
Surrey, East and West Sussex 6 7 +1
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 6 4 -2
Kent 5 7 +2
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 4 7 +3
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 5 5 +0
Cheshire 5 5 +0
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 6 5 -1
Inner London - West 6 3 -3
Merseyside 3 5 +2

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) 545,072,296
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 30,485,330
Other 3,960,733
Air transport 3,736,466
Road transport 22,039

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) 290,072,059 255,000,237 -35,071,822
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 18,014,656 12,470,674 -5,543,982
Other 1,885,539 2,075,194 +189,655
Air transport 2,322,856 1,413,610 -909,246
Road transport 8,783 13,256 +4,473

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Grangemouth Docks 457,611,919
Southampton 28,400,262
Felixstowe 20,424,154
Immingham Docks 18,276,108
London 17,590,323

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 £
Grangemouth Docks 253,686,640 203,925,279 -49,761,361
Southampton 8,995,080 19,405,182 +10,410,102
Felixstowe 9,388,820 11,035,334 +1,646,514
Immingham Docks 8,552,945 9,723,163 +1,170,218
London 9,385,404 8,204,919 -1,180,485
Middlesbrough 8,085,043 7,499,507 -585,536
Dover 1,890,308 2,217,991 +327,683
000 1,885,539 2,075,194 +189,655
Killingholme 3,141,107 86,792 -3,054,315
Hull 1,047,633 1,216,886 +169,253

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
42
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products
34
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities
9
Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities
6
Manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products
6

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 40
2026-04 33
2026-03 38
2026-02 35
2026-01 30

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+ 67
1m-15m 31
15m-54m 14
Other 9
0-1m 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 £
Belgium 308,671,612
Netherlands 179,521,341
Sweden 36,792,829
Germany 35,805,905
France 24,568,831

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 £
Belgium 187,508,704 121,162,908 -66,345,796
Netherlands 110,567,249 68,954,092 -41,613,157
Sweden 23,366,735 13,426,094 -9,940,641
Germany 24,594,436 11,211,469 -13,382,967
France 12,293,553 12,275,278 -18,275
Ireland 2,187,107 2,598,832 +411,725
Italy 3,383,825 295,525 -3,088,300
Colombia 3,264,414 10,080 -3,254,334
Spain 2,919,437 200,315 -2,719,122
United States 694,776 2,406,860 +1,712,084

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 278,953
China 14
United States 13
Germany 12

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 90,883 188,070 +97,187
China 14 0 -14
United States 13 0 -13
Germany 12 0 -12

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) 575,236,168
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 35,225,696
Air transport 4,139,706
Other 279,420

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) 359,135,830 216,100,338 -143,035,492
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 16,400,859 18,824,837 +2,423,978
Air transport 1,882,107 2,257,599 +375,492
Other 90,952 188,468 +97,516

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Grangemouth Docks 473,349,124
Middlesbrough 66,296,332
Immingham Docks 31,679,137
Dover / Eurotunnel 25,144,623
Felixstowe 2,944,597

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 £
Grangemouth Docks 293,284,807 180,064,317 -113,220,490
Middlesbrough 35,185,869 31,110,463 -4,075,406
Immingham Docks 27,927,981 3,751,156 -24,176,825
Dover / Eurotunnel 12,225,292 12,919,331 +694,039
Felixstowe 1,639,296 1,305,301 -333,995
London Heathrow Airport 816,712 1,496,113 +679,401
Liverpool Docks 968,809 1,257,670 +288,861
London Gateway Port 1,348,177 869,589 -478,588
Southampton 1,047,754 1,073,859 +26,105
Holyhead 657,825 1,212,381 +554,556

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 2901

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

Description: Simple carbon-based chemicals with no rings in their structure. Used as fuels, solvents, and in making other chemicals