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 49,442,101
Germany 36,760,195
China 35,864,798
France 32,736,638
Netherlands 30,058,055

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 28,194,917 21,247,184 -6,947,733
Germany 19,138,332 17,621,863 -1,516,469
China 19,668,502 16,196,296 -3,472,206
France 19,123,247 13,613,391 -5,509,856
Netherlands 17,032,339 13,025,716 -4,006,623
Belgium 10,168,546 8,716,219 -1,452,327
Sweden 9,143,537 7,745,343 -1,398,194
United States 9,304,190 6,234,258 -3,069,932
Japan 8,498,208 6,345,626 -2,152,582
Italy 3,649,459 8,700,079 +5,050,620

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 65,913,198
China 49,162,660
Germany 36,363,436
United States 24,197,424
Japan 19,540,800

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 37,282,908 28,630,290 -8,652,618
China 27,451,165 21,711,495 -5,739,670
Germany 19,960,682 16,402,754 -3,557,928
United States 14,439,167 9,758,257 -4,680,910
Japan 10,561,739 8,979,061 -1,582,678
Netherlands 8,887,540 8,265,198 -622,342
Sweden 9,247,735 7,544,320 -1,703,415
Italy 6,381,447 8,678,399 +2,296,952
Spain 6,967,987 5,593,143 -1,374,844
South Korea 4,449,726 2,579,479 -1,870,247

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Greater Manchester 47
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 39
West Yorkshire 37
West Midlands 24
Merseyside 23

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 38 38 +0
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 29 31 +2
West Yorkshire 31 31 +0
West Midlands 12 20 +8
Merseyside 19 19 +0
Inner London - West 18 13 -5
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 14 17 +3
Outer London - West and North West 16 13 -3
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 15 13 -2
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 16 17 +1

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) 149,446,755
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 116,110,917
Air transport 36,992,542
Other 5,575,010
Road transport 1,470,706

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) 81,486,685 67,960,070 -13,526,615
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 66,454,276 49,656,641 -16,797,635
Air transport 19,834,093 17,158,449 -2,675,644
Other 2,895,287 2,679,723 -215,564
Road transport 527,213 943,493 +416,280
Rail transport 11,832 3,252 -8,580

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Felixstowe 64,109,246
Dover 54,016,010
Immingham Docks 36,549,431
Southampton 27,420,982
Eurotunnel 20,449,260

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 39,587,484 24,521,762 -15,065,722
Dover 28,782,601 25,233,409 -3,549,192
Immingham Docks 19,523,561 17,025,870 -2,497,691
Southampton 15,912,000 11,508,982 -4,403,018
Eurotunnel 10,187,231 10,262,029 +74,798
London Gateway Port 5,596,867 7,024,517 +1,427,650
Killingholme 7,172,088 3,889,503 -3,282,585
East Midlands Airport 3,805,191 3,559,651 -245,540
London 3,836,845 3,452,270 -384,575
Manchester Airport 3,704,113 3,228,076 -476,037

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
168
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
126
Manufacture of food products
44
Other manufacturing
36
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
33

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 152
2026-04 152
2026-03 147
2026-02 157
2026-01 137

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+ 232
1m-15m 177
15m-54m 78
0-1m 41
Other 24

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 23,820,445
Belgium 22,984,243
United States 16,661,757
Netherlands 13,149,184
India 12,348,614

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 12,120,916 11,699,529 -421,387
Belgium 12,445,789 10,538,454 -1,907,335
United States 10,186,316 6,475,441 -3,710,875
Netherlands 7,998,018 5,151,166 -2,846,852
India 6,949,164 5,399,450 -1,549,714
France 6,517,837 5,813,128 -704,709
Italy 4,281,253 3,357,403 -923,850
Ireland 4,079,171 3,415,688 -663,483
Saudi Arabia 3,406,595 3,922,627 +516,032
Spain 3,195,592 3,624,571 +428,979

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 6,693,038
India 511,793
Ireland 310,314
Netherlands 266,001
China 145,677

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 3,647,243 3,045,795 -601,448
India 334,626 177,167 -157,459
Ireland 144,317 165,997 +21,680
Netherlands 144,511 121,490 -23,021
China 108,931 36,746 -72,185
Belgium 10,394 7,379 -3,015
New Zealand 0 2,937 +2,937
Denmark 233 14 -219
Poland 142 0 -142
France 65 15 -50

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) 120,572,150
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 59,805,324
Air transport 26,892,826
Other 8,097,291
Road transport 2,294,587

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) 64,459,505 56,112,645 -8,346,860
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 35,816,574 23,988,750 -11,827,824
Air transport 13,377,956 13,514,870 +136,914
Other 4,464,538 3,632,753 -831,785
Road transport 992,084 1,302,503 +310,419

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 74,440,300
London Gateway Port 31,441,310
Immingham Docks 28,651,051
London Heathrow Airport 12,493,152
Southampton 10,511,577

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 41,286,904 33,153,396 -8,133,508
London Gateway Port 20,247,142 11,194,168 -9,052,974
Immingham Docks 13,560,062 15,090,989 +1,530,927
London Heathrow Airport 6,520,788 5,972,364 -548,424
Southampton 4,803,397 5,708,180 +904,783
Felixstowe 3,895,592 4,392,416 +496,824
000 4,464,538 3,632,753 -831,785
Manchester Airport 3,770,993 3,310,394 -460,599
Liverpool Docks 3,253,037 2,492,332 -760,705
Dover 3,153,346 1,935,642 -1,217,704

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