Import/export HS code 3215: Inks for printing and writing

Inks used in printing, writing, or drawing, available in liquid or solid form

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 206,759,328
Germany 97,745,748
Switzerland 88,316,101
France 52,855,388
Philippines 33,461,980

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 114,216,957 92,542,371 -21,674,586
Germany 59,069,370 38,676,378 -20,392,992
Switzerland 25,236,644 63,079,457 +37,842,813
France 33,898,745 18,956,643 -14,942,102
Philippines 19,779,870 13,682,110 -6,097,760
United States 16,541,670 12,211,866 -4,329,804
Belgium 14,619,905 9,550,754 -5,069,151
China 9,461,862 7,921,063 -1,540,799
Japan 7,935,892 9,355,306 +1,419,414
Israel 8,343,229 8,589,769 +246,540

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 £
Malaysia 125,463,750
Japan 105,605,495
China 54,019,161
Netherlands 51,021,072
Germany 45,014,758

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 £
Malaysia 59,340,078 66,123,672 +6,783,594
Japan 58,557,608 47,047,887 -11,509,721
China 30,705,363 23,313,798 -7,391,565
Netherlands 26,755,408 24,265,664 -2,489,744
Germany 24,758,357 20,256,401 -4,501,956
Philippines 21,547,791 15,973,032 -5,574,759
United States 20,684,703 16,302,098 -4,382,605
Indonesia 17,150,428 10,515,446 -6,634,982
France 14,366,372 10,962,062 -3,404,310
Singapore 6,728,084 14,329,501 +7,601,417

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 40
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 27
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 22
Greater Manchester 22
Inner London - West 21

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 25 31 +6
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 23 19 -4
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 17 16 -1
Greater Manchester 21 15 -6
Inner London - West 14 17 +3
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 16 12 -4
Shropshire and Staffordshire 13 12 -1
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 10 13 +3
West Yorkshire 13 8 -5
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 13 10 -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) 368,949,678
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 194,204,039
Air transport 82,545,582
Other 7,550,280
Road transport 1,401,152

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) 196,025,110 172,924,568 -23,100,542
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 110,374,564 83,829,475 -26,545,089
Air transport 34,947,100 47,598,482 +12,651,382
Other 4,226,773 3,323,507 -903,266
Road transport 606,166 794,986 +188,820
Rail transport 704,351 185,726 -518,625

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Eurotunnel 103,527,271
Dover 91,151,722
Felixstowe 90,445,961
Southampton 58,215,598
Immingham Docks 43,018,795

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 61,595,535 41,931,736 -19,663,799
Dover 52,798,666 38,353,056 -14,445,610
Felixstowe 44,234,801 46,211,160 +1,976,359
Southampton 31,981,828 26,233,770 -5,748,058
Immingham Docks 14,622,820 28,395,975 +13,773,155
Dover / Eurotunnel 22,419,851 20,009,938 -2,409,913
Birmingham Airport 12,862,996 25,740,172 +12,877,176
London Gateway Port 15,660,095 14,312,595 -1,347,500
Harwich 14,932,019 11,815,308 -3,116,711
Thamesport 13,061,489 10,570,452 -2,491,037

Importer companies by SIC division

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

Top 5 values

SIC Companies
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 109
Printing and reproduction of recorded media 43
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 42
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products 35
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 31

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 113
2025-11 124
2025-10 124
2025-09 122
2025-08 116

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
1m-15m 166
54m+ 151
0-1m 62
15m-54m 45
Other 31

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 268,644,279
Netherlands 89,822,767
United States 75,040,080
France 47,119,723
Austria 40,777,064

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 163,850,898 104,793,381 -59,057,517
Netherlands 55,606,360 34,216,407 -21,389,953
United States 45,487,042 29,553,038 -15,934,004
France 27,573,705 19,546,018 -8,027,687
Austria 17,237,020 23,540,044 +6,303,024
Italy 24,892,374 7,162,014 -17,730,360
Ireland 12,845,161 10,193,076 -2,652,085
India 11,545,335 8,588,319 -2,957,016
China 9,764,931 7,132,968 -2,631,963
Turkey 7,344,380 9,500,743 +2,156,363

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 15,433
Netherlands 10,972
Portugal 9,913
Italy 9,476
Niger 2,085

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 4,858 10,575 +5,717
Netherlands 10,972 0 -10,972
Portugal 9,913 0 -9,913
Italy 9,476 0 -9,476
Niger 2,085 0 -2,085
France 942 1,006 +64
Germany 945 724 -221
China 1,033 0 -1,033
Belgium 393 0 -393
Denmark 0 277 +277

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) 590,217,532
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 196,166,664
Air transport 105,097,882
Road transport 105,130
Other 100,943

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) 346,790,259 243,427,273 -103,362,986
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 114,231,622 81,935,042 -32,296,580
Air transport 57,723,296 47,374,586 -10,348,710
Road transport 105,130 0 -105,130
Other 74,041 26,902 -47,139
Rail transport 0 4,594 +4,594

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 485,370,030
London Gateway Port 77,992,199
London Heathrow Airport 58,126,239
Southampton 54,962,438
Immingham Docks 50,381,200

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 284,262,087 201,107,943 -83,154,144
London Gateway Port 43,869,445 34,122,754 -9,746,691
London Heathrow Airport 32,231,621 25,894,618 -6,337,003
Southampton 32,000,622 22,961,816 -9,038,806
Immingham Docks 28,448,846 21,932,354 -6,516,492
Felixstowe 20,959,737 10,519,224 -10,440,513
Liverpool Docks 14,900,962 11,967,062 -2,933,900
Dover 17,314,274 8,857,475 -8,456,799
East Midlands Airport 10,495,748 7,708,693 -2,787,055
Holyhead 8,665,166 8,495,552 -169,614

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 3215

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

Description: Inks used in printing, writing, or drawing, available in liquid or solid form