Import/export HS code 3204: Synthetic dyes and colorants

Includes all types of synthetic dyes, colorants, and fluorescent brighteners used in various 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 £
India 51,911,440
China 38,736,973
Germany 37,923,464
France 34,430,918
Netherlands 32,000,135

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 £
India 28,408,980 23,502,460 -4,906,520
China 20,667,879 18,069,094 -2,598,785
Germany 18,447,246 19,476,218 +1,028,972
France 20,335,118 14,095,800 -6,239,318
Netherlands 15,938,102 16,062,033 +123,931
Belgium 10,818,039 9,862,553 -955,486
Sweden 9,211,379 8,386,807 -824,572
United States 9,410,214 7,512,449 -1,897,765
Japan 8,509,537 7,146,680 -1,362,857
Italy 4,346,218 8,546,695 +4,200,477

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 £
India 69,808,559
China 52,248,928
Germany 38,157,430
United States 25,519,479
Japan 20,611,855

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 £
India 38,401,445 31,407,114 -6,994,331
China 27,817,683 24,431,245 -3,386,438
Germany 19,890,879 18,266,551 -1,624,328
United States 13,931,462 11,588,017 -2,343,445
Japan 10,687,853 9,924,002 -763,851
Netherlands 8,570,564 9,524,210 +953,646
Sweden 9,165,474 8,357,914 -807,560
Italy 7,666,518 9,285,179 +1,618,661
Spain 7,246,365 6,030,772 -1,215,593
South Korea 4,777,938 3,012,448 -1,765,490

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Greater Manchester 49
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 39
West Yorkshire 36
Merseyside 24
West Midlands 24

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
Greater Manchester 40 40 +0
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 29 30 +1
West Yorkshire 29 33 +4
Merseyside 19 19 +0
West Midlands 12 20 +8
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 13 18 +5
Outer London - West and North West 17 15 -2
Inner London - West 16 14 -2
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 16 13 -3
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 16 13 -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) 158,386,305
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 123,968,391
Air transport 39,186,392
Other 5,895,940
Road transport 1,641,100

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) 83,124,164 75,262,141 -7,862,023
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 67,694,943 56,273,448 -11,421,495
Air transport 20,027,224 19,159,168 -868,056
Other 2,815,114 3,080,826 +265,712
Road transport 603,614 1,037,486 +433,872
Rail transport 16,540 3,252 -13,288

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Felixstowe 70,110,974
Dover 56,803,481
Immingham Docks 37,728,567
Southampton 28,381,373
Eurotunnel 21,471,656

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 £
Felixstowe 42,235,756 27,875,218 -14,360,538
Dover 29,236,018 27,567,463 -1,668,555
Immingham Docks 18,583,580 19,144,987 +561,407
Southampton 15,490,950 12,890,423 -2,600,527
Eurotunnel 10,156,148 11,315,508 +1,159,360
London Gateway Port 3,900,983 8,638,499 +4,737,516
Killingholme 7,637,618 4,209,201 -3,428,417
Manchester Airport 4,599,331 3,443,206 -1,156,125
East Midlands Airport 3,875,490 3,847,791 -27,699
London 3,860,491 3,757,854 -102,637

Importer companies by SIC division

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

Top 5 values

SIC Companies
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products 161
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 128
Manufacture of food products 44
Other manufacturing 39
Manufacture of rubber and plastic products 33

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-04 151
2026-03 146
2026-02 157
2026-01 137
2025-12 109

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+ 233
1m-15m 179
15m-54m 77
0-1m 42
Other 26

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 £
Germany 25,411,904
Belgium 24,374,185
United States 18,187,089
Spain 17,591,735
Netherlands 16,525,543

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 £
Germany 13,239,780 12,172,124 -1,067,656
Belgium 12,300,551 12,073,634 -226,917
United States 11,209,668 6,977,421 -4,232,247
Spain 13,916,644 3,675,091 -10,241,553
Netherlands 10,535,552 5,989,991 -4,545,561
India 7,107,767 5,654,482 -1,453,285
France 6,034,900 6,600,656 +565,756
Italy 4,479,462 3,584,166 -895,296
Saudi Arabia 3,717,258 4,012,756 +295,498
Ireland 4,036,908 3,552,634 -484,274

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 7,052,895
India 529,349
Ireland 301,851
Netherlands 285,843
China 147,395

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 3,701,370 3,351,525 -349,845
India 351,908 177,441 -174,467
Ireland 141,014 160,837 +19,823
Netherlands 157,849 127,994 -29,855
China 76,182 71,213 -4,969
Belgium 2,675 13,835 +11,160
New Zealand 0 2,777 +2,777
Denmark 233 14 -219
Poland 142 0 -142
France 60 20 -40

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) 128,533,663
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 63,282,183
Air transport 39,014,774
Other 8,471,414
Road transport 2,377,875

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) 67,876,271 60,657,392 -7,218,879
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 36,508,990 26,773,193 -9,735,797
Air transport 24,992,227 14,022,547 -10,969,680
Other 4,494,801 3,976,613 -518,188
Road transport 856,656 1,521,219 +664,563

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 77,730,683
London Gateway Port 33,557,400
Immingham Docks 32,232,158
London Heathrow Airport 23,800,652
Southampton 10,567,498

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 41,384,357 36,346,326 -5,038,031
London Gateway Port 20,643,277 12,914,123 -7,729,154
Immingham Docks 16,199,852 16,032,306 -167,546
London Heathrow Airport 17,582,922 6,217,730 -11,365,192
Southampton 4,437,330 6,130,168 +1,692,838
Felixstowe 4,150,102 4,344,178 +194,076
000 4,494,801 3,976,613 -518,188
Manchester Airport 4,345,920 3,326,799 -1,019,121
Liverpool Docks 3,278,436 2,933,976 -344,460
Dover 3,228,642 2,074,536 -1,154,106

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 3204

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

Description: Includes all types of synthetic dyes, colorants, and fluorescent brighteners used in various industries