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 31,189,990
Germany 19,206,069
Ireland 17,391,712
China 9,665,431
Italy 8,665,613

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 15,081,681 16,108,309 +1,026,628
Germany 9,280,174 9,925,895 +645,721
Ireland 9,334,086 8,057,626 -1,276,460
China 4,542,331 5,123,100 +580,769
Italy 4,050,293 4,615,320 +565,027
Denmark 2,946,096 3,029,617 +83,521
France 2,806,908 2,595,440 -211,468
India 2,353,466 2,282,621 -70,845
United States 1,507,463 2,770,140 +1,262,677
Spain 1,534,382 1,767,762 +233,380

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 23,370,661
Ireland 16,633,903
Germany 14,004,217
China 13,959,809
Italy 9,670,519

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 11,161,934 12,208,727 +1,046,793
Ireland 8,862,553 7,771,350 -1,091,203
Germany 6,665,318 7,338,899 +673,581
China 7,041,652 6,918,157 -123,495
Italy 4,530,650 5,139,869 +609,219
Spain 2,853,500 3,070,349 +216,849
India 2,851,385 2,922,091 +70,706
Denmark 2,345,314 2,286,725 -58,589
United States 1,578,480 3,028,486 +1,450,006
France 1,921,954 1,741,709 -180,245

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 22
Greater Manchester 15
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 15
Outer London - West and North West 15
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 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 20 13 -7
Greater Manchester 10 11 +1
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 10 12 +2
Outer London - West and North West 14 9 -5
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 10 9 -1
Inner London - West 11 10 -1
Merseyside 9 9 +0
North Somerset, Somerset and Dorset 6 7 +1
Surrey, East and West Sussex 6 9 +3
Inner London - East 5 7 +2

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) 72,590,853
Air transport 21,757,072
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 20,965,942
Other 2,524,382
Road transport 51,245

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) 35,494,680 37,096,173 +1,601,493
Air transport 9,902,125 11,854,947 +1,952,822
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 10,834,503 10,131,439 -703,064
Other 1,110,460 1,413,922 +303,462
Road transport 3,381 47,864 +44,483

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Eurotunnel 19,747,244
Dover 19,045,677
Holyhead 13,420,509
Felixstowe 9,029,739
Hull 8,056,404

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 11,172,106 8,575,138 -2,596,968
Dover 8,482,553 10,563,124 +2,080,571
Holyhead 6,668,150 6,752,359 +84,209
Felixstowe 4,129,059 4,900,680 +771,621
Hull 4,161,588 3,894,816 -266,772
London Heathrow Airport 3,175,075 3,215,919 +40,844
East Midlands Airport 2,222,790 3,477,994 +1,255,204
Birmingham Airport 2,314,172 2,535,255 +221,083
London 2,311,043 2,515,784 +204,741
Immingham Docks 1,335,071 2,552,025 +1,216,954

Importer companies by SIC division

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

Top 5 values

SIC Companies
Manufacture of food products 100
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 74
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 25
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products 20
Manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations 17

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-04 66
2026-03 63
2026-02 64
2026-01 69
2025-12 57

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+ 101
1m-15m 79
15m-54m 42
0-1m 19
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 6,643,891
Ireland 6,342,671
United States 6,103,915
Germany 5,334,888
Ukraine 4,916,455

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 3,505,663 3,138,228 -367,435
Ireland 3,792,943 2,549,728 -1,243,215
United States 2,828,802 3,275,113 +446,311
Germany 2,612,949 2,721,939 +108,990
Ukraine 2,279,731 2,636,724 +356,993
Netherlands 2,336,822 2,172,600 -164,222
Denmark 2,391,350 2,059,803 -331,547
Poland 1,964,168 2,186,939 +222,771
Turkey 1,479,209 1,248,447 -230,762
Spain 1,213,366 1,299,314 +85,948

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 8,352
Peru 2,456
Germany 38

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 5,883 2,469 -3,414
Peru 2,456 0 -2,456
Germany 33 5 -28

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) 47,373,450
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 13,411,562
Air transport 11,731,365
Other 13,983
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) 24,821,969 22,551,481 -2,270,488
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 5,875,823 7,535,739 +1,659,916
Air transport 5,852,605 5,878,760 +26,155
Other 9,650 4,333 -5,317
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 34,864,208
London Heathrow Airport 8,853,483
London Gateway Port 5,800,749
Holyhead 5,626,484
Immingham Docks 4,168,405

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 18,357,908 16,506,300 -1,851,608
London Heathrow Airport 4,129,034 4,724,449 +595,415
London Gateway Port 2,600,260 3,200,489 +600,229
Holyhead 3,550,026 2,076,458 -1,473,568
Immingham Docks 2,042,552 2,125,853 +83,301
Dover 1,295,169 1,995,787 +700,618
Liverpool Docks 1,071,134 1,865,057 +793,923
Manchester Airport 1,130,044 646,995 -483,049
Southampton 767,502 977,848 +210,346
Felixstowe 558,881 701,230 +142,349

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