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 206,156,903
Switzerland 115,198,978
Germany 91,579,817
France 48,128,387
Philippines 30,377,630

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 107,933,699 98,223,204 -9,710,495
Switzerland 50,073,790 65,125,188 +15,051,398
Germany 58,334,756 33,245,061 -25,089,695
France 32,051,183 16,077,204 -15,973,979
Philippines 20,166,833 10,210,797 -9,956,036
United States 15,613,653 12,121,929 -3,491,724
Belgium 13,757,908 9,456,271 -4,301,637
Japan 9,494,152 11,588,394 +2,094,242
Israel 9,676,066 8,965,893 -710,173
China 10,308,937 8,182,508 -2,126,429

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 135,653,627
Japan 107,193,658
China 55,726,320
Netherlands 54,455,104
Germany 45,267,840

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 77,986,700 57,666,927 -20,319,773
Japan 56,278,875 50,914,783 -5,364,092
China 29,666,726 26,059,594 -3,607,132
Netherlands 27,019,496 27,435,608 +416,112
Germany 23,369,382 21,898,458 -1,470,924
United States 19,825,931 16,234,545 -3,591,386
Philippines 22,928,470 11,434,377 -11,494,093
Indonesia 16,855,305 9,513,127 -7,342,178
Singapore 9,962,997 15,198,136 +5,235,139
France 13,713,850 11,137,738 -2,576,112

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 37
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 25
Inner London - West 23
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 22
Greater Manchester 22

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 26 31 +5
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 22 18 -4
Inner London - West 16 18 +2
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 17 16 -1
Greater Manchester 21 16 -5
Shropshire and Staffordshire 15 10 -5
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 15 10 -5
Kent 13 13 +0
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 13 11 -2
West Midlands 12 11 -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) 377,769,321
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 195,776,961
Air transport 98,679,618
Other 7,517,043
Road transport 1,793,884

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) 209,414,081 168,355,240 -41,058,841
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 106,501,316 89,275,645 -17,225,671
Air transport 43,221,870 55,457,748 +12,235,878
Other 4,106,928 3,410,115 -696,813
Road transport 641,072 1,152,812 +511,740
Rail transport 583,971 0 -583,971

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Eurotunnel 102,233,457
Felixstowe 94,762,710
Dover 90,339,467
Southampton 59,815,890
Immingham Docks 52,636,218

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 59,590,252 42,643,205 -16,947,047
Felixstowe 56,013,818 38,748,892 -17,264,926
Dover 52,954,394 37,385,073 -15,569,321
Southampton 33,430,205 26,385,685 -7,044,520
Immingham Docks 19,467,952 33,168,266 +13,700,314
Birmingham Airport 20,433,192 31,135,146 +10,701,954
Dover / Eurotunnel 22,432,489 16,016,665 -6,415,824
London Gateway Port 15,642,525 19,643,281 +4,000,756
Harwich 15,209,097 12,394,379 -2,814,718
Thamesport 12,769,599 10,736,438 -2,033,161

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
103
Printing and reproduction of recorded media
46
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products
38
Other manufacturing
36
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
36

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 132
2026-04 116
2026-03 112
2026-02 114
2026-01 113

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 163
54m+ 150
0-1m 59
15m-54m 46
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 262,806,433
Netherlands 81,559,930
United States 75,347,986
France 48,084,087
Austria 46,435,907

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 162,630,132 100,176,301 -62,453,831
Netherlands 46,301,687 35,258,243 -11,043,444
United States 42,992,613 32,355,373 -10,637,240
France 26,078,553 22,005,534 -4,073,019
Austria 24,051,513 22,384,394 -1,667,119
Italy 16,959,341 10,397,390 -6,561,951
Turkey 7,422,724 15,764,247 +8,341,523
Ireland 12,854,035 10,253,109 -2,600,926
India 11,344,584 9,554,148 -1,790,436
Brazil 9,057,827 9,253,373 +195,546

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 17,846
Netherlands 10,972
Portugal 9,913
Italy 9,476
Germany 1,826

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 7,065 10,781 +3,716
Netherlands 10,972 0 -10,972
Portugal 9,913 0 -9,913
Italy 9,476 0 -9,476
Germany 1,078 748 -330
France 0 1,391 +1,391
China 1,022 0 -1,022
Belgium 393 0 -393
Denmark 277 14 -263
New Zealand 0 141 +141

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) 592,488,934
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 199,953,267
Air transport 112,288,937
Other 95,309
Road transport 9,640

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) 338,516,501 253,972,433 -84,544,068
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 108,099,237 91,854,030 -16,245,207
Air transport 59,680,578 52,608,359 -7,072,219
Other 68,248 27,061 -41,187
Road transport 9,640 0 -9,640
Rail transport 4,594 0 -4,594

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 483,389,955
London Gateway Port 82,511,046
London Heathrow Airport 61,820,295
Southampton 58,004,001
Immingham Docks 51,066,127

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 276,171,242 207,218,713 -68,952,529
London Gateway Port 44,375,745 38,135,301 -6,240,444
London Heathrow Airport 33,443,409 28,376,886 -5,066,523
Southampton 30,371,883 27,632,118 -2,739,765
Immingham Docks 29,659,958 21,406,169 -8,253,789
Felixstowe 18,337,456 12,180,304 -6,157,152
Liverpool Docks 15,729,267 11,568,175 -4,161,092
Dover 14,310,780 11,309,402 -3,001,378
Manchester Airport 9,867,468 9,758,890 -108,578
Holyhead 9,132,986 8,656,593 -476,393

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