Import/export HS code 3401: Soap and skin cleaning products

Bars, liquids, or creams for washing skin, including medicated soaps and products for retail sale

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 £
Germany 156,113,729
China 128,115,844
Poland 102,832,650
Italy 98,604,424
France 79,907,085

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 £
Germany 86,157,076 69,956,653 -16,200,423
China 54,958,941 73,156,903 +18,197,962
Poland 52,023,946 50,808,704 -1,215,242
Italy 51,831,304 46,773,120 -5,058,184
France 45,422,299 34,484,786 -10,937,513
United States 28,963,641 19,839,930 -9,123,711
Spain 23,553,942 23,033,647 -520,295
Netherlands 23,819,842 21,356,827 -2,463,015
Turkey 17,645,206 19,200,239 +1,555,033
Israel 24,162,454 12,437,124 -11,725,330

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 £
Germany 158,277,902
China 133,613,093
Poland 108,310,460
Italy 99,746,631
France 85,218,181

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 £
Germany 92,433,586 65,844,316 -26,589,270
China 57,850,919 75,762,174 +17,911,255
Poland 55,898,681 52,411,779 -3,486,902
Italy 52,511,957 47,234,674 -5,277,283
France 49,287,923 35,930,258 -13,357,665
Israel 32,940,402 22,995,169 -9,945,233
United States 32,105,149 23,277,291 -8,827,858
Spain 14,681,223 24,955,563 +10,274,340
Turkey 17,885,671 19,474,663 +1,588,992
Australia 7,487,145 10,204,209 +2,717,064

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 192
Inner London - East 105
Outer London - West and North West 99
Greater Manchester 86
Surrey, East and West Sussex 74

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
Inner London - West 142 145 +3
Inner London - East 80 75 -5
Outer London - West and North West 75 71 -4
Greater Manchester 60 61 +1
Surrey, East and West Sussex 60 61 +1
Outer London - East and North East 54 49 -5
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 49 47 -2
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 43 38 -5
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 36 35 -1
West Midlands 30 24 -6

Import volume by transport

What this shows: Import value by transport mode used to bring goods into the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 594,962,552
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 318,528,261
Air transport 22,011,279
Other 18,689,716
Road transport 1,470,667

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 £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 304,621,437 290,341,115 -14,280,322
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 169,237,899 149,290,362 -19,947,537
Air transport 12,674,166 9,337,113 -3,337,053
Other 11,778,164 6,911,552 -4,866,612
Road transport 591,091 879,576 +288,485

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Immingham Docks 241,668,675
Felixstowe 166,221,310
Dover 92,618,651
London Gateway Port 66,413,080
London 65,552,704

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 £
Immingham Docks 136,995,007 104,673,668 -32,321,339
Felixstowe 79,672,401 86,548,909 +6,876,508
Dover 45,623,802 46,994,849 +1,371,047
London Gateway Port 36,887,785 29,525,295 -7,362,490
London 31,060,988 34,491,716 +3,430,728
Southampton 31,232,534 31,410,323 +177,789
Hull 22,875,753 17,633,418 -5,242,335
Liverpool Docks 19,077,137 15,802,454 -3,274,683
Dover / Eurotunnel 15,426,438 18,041,305 +2,614,867
Eurotunnel 16,497,484 15,683,657 -813,827

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 601
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 454
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 70
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products 69
Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities 42

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 298
2025-11 352
2025-10 376
2025-09 358
2025-08 371

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 465
0-1m 335
54m+ 273
15m-54m 135
Other 118

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 £
Ireland 127,412,893
Germany 85,673,105
United States 53,553,387
France 51,031,132
Belgium 39,263,645

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 £
Ireland 67,386,032 60,026,861 -7,359,171
Germany 44,609,305 41,063,800 -3,545,505
United States 28,918,226 24,635,161 -4,283,065
France 30,207,698 20,823,434 -9,384,264
Belgium 21,615,456 17,648,189 -3,967,267
Netherlands 21,587,914 16,525,654 -5,062,260
Poland 10,123,733 9,180,957 -942,776
United Arab Emirates 8,954,805 6,806,129 -2,148,676
Australia 7,418,742 6,711,744 -706,998
Spain 7,384,381 5,548,217 -1,836,164

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 2,232,308
China 725,138
Germany 301,096
Netherlands 235,273
United States 218,707

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 1,419,934 812,374 -607,560
China 401,365 323,773 -77,592
Germany 171,557 129,539 -42,018
Netherlands 150,397 84,876 -65,521
United States 212,118 6,589 -205,529
Italy 158,396 32,120 -126,276
France 124,264 16,122 -108,142
Poland 59,938 59,349 -589
Belgium 104,365 1,549 -102,816
Ireland 56,525 32,661 -23,864

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) 429,682,198
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 187,254,217
Air transport 25,730,838
Other 7,520,390
Road transport 337,771

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) 227,634,163 202,048,035 -25,586,128
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 101,112,269 86,141,948 -14,970,321
Air transport 17,247,530 8,483,308 -8,764,222
Other 4,505,437 3,014,953 -1,490,484
Road transport 337,771 0 -337,771
Rail transport 0 20,326 +20,326

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 213,471,366
Immingham Docks 75,213,991
Liverpool Docks 71,192,175
London Gateway Port 65,497,719
Holyhead 58,154,745

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 114,472,062 98,999,304 -15,472,758
Immingham Docks 41,870,089 33,343,902 -8,526,187
Liverpool Docks 38,890,453 32,301,722 -6,588,731
London Gateway Port 33,669,408 31,828,311 -1,841,097
Holyhead 27,613,958 30,540,787 +2,926,829
Southampton 24,804,067 24,765,456 -38,611
Felixstowe 22,794,489 13,065,107 -9,729,382
London Heathrow Airport 14,563,857 7,195,524 -7,368,333
Dover 9,930,802 9,748,690 -182,112
000 4,505,437 3,014,953 -1,490,484

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 3401

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

Description: Bars, liquids, or creams for washing skin, including medicated soaps and products for retail sale