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 50,380,892
China 36,704,218
Germany 34,468,484
France 32,261,613
Netherlands 31,391,321

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 29,372,132 21,008,760 -8,363,372
China 20,401,016 16,303,202 -4,097,814
Germany 18,739,665 15,728,819 -3,010,846
France 20,907,722 11,353,891 -9,553,831
Netherlands 16,878,663 14,512,658 -2,366,005
Belgium 10,855,525 8,608,733 -2,246,792
United States 9,964,402 7,072,559 -2,891,843
Japan 10,442,570 6,479,439 -3,963,131
Sweden 8,583,416 7,054,419 -1,528,997
Italy 4,233,061 6,746,993 +2,513,932

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 67,664,362
China 48,901,692
Germany 35,568,305
United States 25,505,437
Japan 21,304,044

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 39,716,047 27,948,315 -11,767,732
China 26,412,595 22,489,097 -3,923,498
Germany 20,850,007 14,718,298 -6,131,709
United States 14,281,350 11,224,087 -3,057,263
Japan 12,567,008 8,737,036 -3,829,972
Sweden 9,407,129 7,168,171 -2,238,958
Netherlands 8,394,319 8,003,004 -391,315
Italy 7,568,725 7,745,198 +176,473
Spain 6,851,916 5,080,857 -1,771,059
South Korea 5,248,750 2,742,715 -2,506,035

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 35
West Yorkshire 35
Inner London - West 24
Merseyside 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 28 24 -4
West Yorkshire 29 30 +1
Inner London - West 17 15 -2
Merseyside 17 19 +2
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 14 18 +4
West Midlands 10 18 +8
Outer London - West and North West 17 13 -4
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 17 11 -6
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 16 15 -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) 147,975,568
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 121,388,933
Air transport 36,830,545
Other 5,090,408
Road transport 1,467,219

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) 83,265,424 64,710,144 -18,555,280
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 69,278,535 52,110,398 -17,168,137
Air transport 20,463,972 16,366,573 -4,097,399
Other 2,818,555 2,271,853 -546,702
Road transport 574,415 892,804 +318,389
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 71,875,234
Dover 53,821,962
Immingham Docks 34,140,247
Southampton 28,783,606
Eurotunnel 19,366,190

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 44,257,905 27,617,329 -16,640,576
Dover 29,758,784 24,063,178 -5,695,606
Immingham Docks 17,778,912 16,361,335 -1,417,577
Southampton 16,543,441 12,240,165 -4,303,276
Eurotunnel 9,842,949 9,523,241 -319,708
Killingholme 7,263,818 3,877,709 -3,386,109
London Gateway Port 3,758,215 6,771,794 +3,013,579
Manchester Airport 5,138,022 2,956,602 -2,181,420
East Midlands Airport 4,023,368 3,594,875 -428,493
London 3,918,271 3,372,829 -545,442

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 162
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 130
Manufacture of food products 41
Other manufacturing 39
Manufacture of rubber and plastic products 34

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 137
2025-11 152
2025-10 142
2025-09 149
2025-08 117

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+ 225
1m-15m 184
15m-54m 73
0-1m 42
Other 25

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 23,840,362
Germany 23,448,989
Netherlands 17,995,691
United States 17,515,342
Spain 16,748,074

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 12,077,639 11,762,723 -314,916
Germany 12,808,626 10,640,363 -2,168,263
Netherlands 12,802,259 5,193,432 -7,608,827
United States 11,306,316 6,209,026 -5,097,290
Spain 13,868,546 2,879,528 -10,989,018
India 7,148,570 4,159,241 -2,989,329
France 5,652,285 5,464,143 -188,142
Italy 4,743,220 3,351,718 -1,391,502
Ireland 3,803,682 3,217,395 -586,287
Saudi Arabia 3,432,187 3,541,295 +109,108

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 6,716,852
India 495,394
Ireland 276,201
Netherlands 274,697
China 152,660

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 3,502,693 3,214,159 -288,534
India 294,429 200,965 -93,464
Ireland 136,940 139,261 +2,321
Netherlands 162,377 112,320 -50,057
China 71,506 81,154 +9,648
Belgium 2,095 9,615 +7,520
New Zealand 0 425 +425
Denmark 247 105 -142
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) 119,584,348
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 63,633,985
Air transport 36,605,544
Other 8,044,260
Road transport 2,406,353

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) 66,418,897 53,165,451 -13,253,446
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 41,006,032 22,627,953 -18,378,079
Air transport 25,083,856 11,521,688 -13,562,168
Other 4,233,272 3,810,988 -422,284
Road transport 1,065,228 1,341,125 +275,897

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 73,678,089
London Gateway Port 32,420,481
Immingham Docks 32,161,856
London Heathrow Airport 22,354,220
Southampton 9,341,156

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 41,222,643 32,455,446 -8,767,197
London Gateway Port 21,675,523 10,744,958 -10,930,565
Immingham Docks 18,586,337 13,575,519 -5,010,818
London Heathrow Airport 17,585,193 4,769,027 -12,816,166
Southampton 4,092,363 5,248,793 +1,156,430
000 4,233,272 3,810,988 -422,284
Manchester Airport 4,438,793 2,987,368 -1,451,425
Felixstowe 3,824,086 3,347,990 -476,096
Liverpool Docks 3,248,319 2,190,286 -1,058,033
Dover 3,732,663 1,621,972 -2,110,691

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