Import/export HS code 3203: Natural dyes and colorants

Dyes and colorants made from plants or animals, including extracts and chemically defined preparations

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 29,718,660
Germany 17,723,022
Ireland 16,279,803
China 9,563,059
Italy 8,326,168

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 15,547,869 14,170,791 -1,377,078
Germany 8,931,783 8,791,239 -140,544
Ireland 8,953,109 7,326,694 -1,626,415
China 4,797,418 4,765,641 -31,777
Italy 4,214,384 4,111,784 -102,600
Denmark 2,972,582 2,766,177 -206,405
France 2,687,863 2,434,870 -252,993
India 2,224,563 2,187,550 -37,013
United States 1,622,123 2,493,901 +871,778
Spain 1,676,219 1,779,245 +103,026

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 £
Netherlands 22,237,152
Ireland 15,572,784
China 13,327,714
Germany 12,969,368
Italy 9,329,055

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 £
Netherlands 10,583,537 11,653,615 +1,070,078
Ireland 8,495,927 7,076,857 -1,419,070
China 7,134,390 6,193,324 -941,066
Germany 6,862,236 6,107,132 -755,104
Italy 4,756,295 4,572,760 -183,535
Spain 2,798,106 3,008,510 +210,404
India 2,809,959 2,893,727 +83,768
United States 1,644,640 2,997,243 +1,352,603
Denmark 2,411,677 2,064,239 -347,438
Peru 1,587,070 1,937,390 +350,320

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 20
Greater Manchester 16
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 14
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 13
Inner London - West 13

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
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 17 13 -4
Greater Manchester 10 12 +2
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 12 10 -2
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 10 9 -1
Inner London - West 12 9 -3
Outer London - West and North West 12 9 -3
Merseyside 9 9 +0
North Somerset, Somerset and Dorset 6 6 +0
Surrey, East and West Sussex 6 8 +2
West Yorkshire 6 9 +3

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) 69,075,970
Air transport 21,095,252
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 19,650,228
Other 2,547,695
Road transport 47,864

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) 35,242,438 33,833,532 -1,408,906
Air transport 10,366,517 10,728,735 +362,218
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 10,709,627 8,940,601 -1,769,026
Other 1,184,374 1,363,321 +178,947
Road transport 0 47,864 +47,864

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Eurotunnel 18,586,601
Dover 18,362,174
Holyhead 12,622,998
Felixstowe 8,846,795
Hull 7,362,010

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 £
Eurotunnel 10,482,207 8,104,394 -2,377,813
Dover 8,640,262 9,721,912 +1,081,650
Holyhead 6,458,523 6,164,475 -294,048
Felixstowe 4,479,220 4,367,575 -111,645
Hull 4,202,360 3,159,650 -1,042,710
London Heathrow Airport 3,268,257 2,831,317 -436,940
East Midlands Airport 2,558,555 3,144,683 +586,128
Birmingham Airport 2,393,431 2,253,438 -139,993
London 2,405,404 2,233,410 -171,994
Immingham Docks 1,521,531 2,335,946 +814,415

Importer companies by SIC division

What this shows: Industry breakdown (SIC divisions) of importing companies.

Top 5 values

SIC Companies
Manufacture of food products
98
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
74
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
24
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products
19
Manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations
16

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 70
2026-04 67
2026-03 64
2026-02 64
2026-01 69

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+ 98
1m-15m 73
15m-54m 43
0-1m 21
Other 17

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 £
France 6,280,597
Ireland 6,002,116
United States 5,844,343
Germany 5,198,430
Ukraine 4,811,341

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 £
France 3,504,845 2,775,752 -729,093
Ireland 3,599,301 2,402,815 -1,196,486
United States 2,907,288 2,937,055 +29,767
Germany 2,484,763 2,713,667 +228,904
Ukraine 2,267,138 2,544,203 +277,065
Netherlands 2,155,169 2,073,477 -81,692
Poland 2,185,825 1,921,080 -264,745
Denmark 2,232,609 1,826,083 -406,526
Turkey 1,523,836 1,104,187 -419,649
Spain 1,280,319 1,251,245 -29,074

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 7,972
Peru 2,456
Germany 16

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 5,838 2,134 -3,704
Peru 2,456 0 -2,456
Germany 16 0 -16

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) 45,315,952
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 12,819,742
Air transport 11,260,460
Other 13,505
Road transport 9,367

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) 24,331,688 20,984,264 -3,347,424
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 6,560,190 6,259,552 -300,638
Air transport 5,905,998 5,354,462 -551,536
Other 9,518 3,987 -5,531
Road transport 4,327 5,040 +713

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 33,140,891
London Heathrow Airport 8,587,026
London Gateway Port 5,345,408
Holyhead 5,330,996
Immingham Docks 4,042,108

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 17,921,013 15,219,878 -2,701,135
London Heathrow Airport 4,334,764 4,252,262 -82,502
London Gateway Port 2,878,071 2,467,337 -410,734
Holyhead 3,388,364 1,942,632 -1,445,732
Immingham Docks 2,318,506 1,723,602 -594,904
Dover 1,277,410 2,018,416 +741,006
Liverpool Docks 1,106,701 1,701,361 +594,660
Southampton 829,492 979,534 +150,042
Manchester Airport 1,069,703 632,160 -437,543
Felixstowe 688,830 561,114 -127,716

Quick facts

HS code: 3203

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

Description: Dyes and colorants made from plants or animals, including extracts and chemically defined preparations