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 156,229,320
China 146,030,735
Poland 108,462,785
Italy 107,537,415
France 82,776,919

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 81,531,496 74,697,824 -6,833,672
China 61,564,571 84,466,164 +22,901,593
Poland 53,432,276 55,030,509 +1,598,233
Italy 52,246,375 55,291,040 +3,044,665
France 41,507,847 41,269,072 -238,775
Spain 23,307,904 28,888,568 +5,580,664
United States 29,250,465 17,860,997 -11,389,468
Netherlands 26,394,976 19,844,224 -6,550,752
Turkey 19,815,966 23,295,543 +3,479,577
Israel 19,054,123 13,054,076 -6,000,047

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 153,085,607
China 152,118,053
Poland 113,338,342
Italy 109,368,866
France 82,852,730

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 83,573,342 69,512,265 -14,061,077
China 64,781,339 87,336,714 +22,555,375
Poland 56,807,977 56,530,365 -277,612
Italy 52,412,044 56,956,822 +4,544,778
France 43,162,172 39,690,558 -3,471,614
United States 32,908,648 21,517,833 -11,390,815
Spain 19,553,869 32,914,299 +13,360,430
Israel 30,857,169 20,383,428 -10,473,741
Turkey 20,129,972 23,597,092 +3,467,120
Canada 9,453,172 9,992,855 +539,683

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 189
Inner London - East 111
Outer London - West and North West 98
Greater Manchester 88
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 73

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 142 144 +2
Inner London - East 76 81 +5
Outer London - West and North West 71 74 +3
Greater Manchester 63 61 -2
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 49 55 +6
Outer London - East and North East 56 47 -9
Surrey, East and West Sussex 58 64 +6
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 43 38 -5
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 35 40 +5
West Midlands 33 24 -9

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) 621,929,227
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 342,602,826
Air transport 23,280,318
Other 17,002,132
Road transport 1,643,406

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) 308,782,108 313,147,119 +4,365,011
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 170,208,232 172,394,594 +2,186,362
Air transport 11,206,770 12,073,548 +866,778
Other 13,371,124 3,631,008 -9,740,116
Road transport 485,129 1,158,277 +673,148

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Immingham Docks 245,246,266
Felixstowe 174,744,178
Dover 94,480,054
London 71,131,416
London Gateway Port 68,219,936

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 129,005,749 116,240,517 -12,765,232
Felixstowe 89,373,642 85,370,536 -4,003,106
Dover 45,735,138 48,744,916 +3,009,778
London 36,073,447 35,057,969 -1,015,478
London Gateway Port 37,081,217 31,138,719 -5,942,498
Southampton 31,789,370 35,445,572 +3,656,202
Hull 22,916,950 26,289,540 +3,372,590
Dover / Eurotunnel 16,441,813 25,322,054 +8,880,241
Liverpool Docks 20,611,040 16,609,078 -4,001,962
Eurotunnel 16,813,532 18,214,000 +1,400,468

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
623
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
484
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities
73
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products
72
Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities
43

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 318
2026-04 315
2026-03 307
2026-02 322
2026-01 298

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 498
0-1m 338
54m+ 282
15m-54m 139
Other 131

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 133,890,041
Germany 92,178,623
United States 53,655,425
France 50,486,208
Belgium 40,371,999

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 68,574,530 65,315,511 -3,259,019
Germany 45,786,591 46,392,032 +605,441
United States 29,936,175 23,719,250 -6,216,925
France 30,473,080 20,013,128 -10,459,952
Belgium 21,087,267 19,284,732 -1,802,535
Netherlands 20,619,259 17,425,974 -3,193,285
Poland 10,828,173 9,402,440 -1,425,733
United Arab Emirates 8,410,278 7,286,393 -1,123,885
Australia 8,196,362 7,021,378 -1,174,984
Spain 7,170,835 5,984,756 -1,186,079

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 2,194,179
China 839,663
Germany 320,202
France 205,186
Ireland 183,412

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 1,164,044 1,030,135 -133,909
China 379,285 460,378 +81,093
Germany 176,471 143,731 -32,740
France 114,642 90,544 -24,098
Ireland 38,151 145,261 +107,110
United States 136,034 27,992 -108,042
Netherlands 102,875 46,890 -55,985
Poland 70,465 62,491 -7,974
Spain 9,037 111,818 +102,781
Italy 75,975 41,656 -34,319

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) 447,088,926
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 194,625,172
Air transport 24,319,792
Other 7,953,625
Rail transport 20,326

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) 236,968,059 210,120,867 -26,847,192
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 100,410,017 94,215,155 -6,194,862
Air transport 15,205,670 9,114,122 -6,091,548
Other 4,054,727 3,898,898 -155,829
Rail transport 20,326 0 -20,326
Road transport 4,499 0 -4,499

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 222,000,477
Immingham Docks 78,109,414
Liverpool Docks 74,363,223
London Gateway Port 68,934,081
Holyhead 63,224,290

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 116,794,553 105,205,924 -11,588,629
Immingham Docks 40,409,645 37,699,769 -2,709,876
Liverpool Docks 39,976,846 34,386,377 -5,590,469
London Gateway Port 35,876,262 33,057,819 -2,818,443
Holyhead 29,000,938 34,223,352 +5,222,414
Southampton 27,777,864 23,656,762 -4,121,102
Felixstowe 20,354,949 13,936,432 -6,418,517
Dover 11,804,744 8,870,925 -2,933,819
London Heathrow Airport 12,977,383 7,642,826 -5,334,557
000 4,054,727 3,898,898 -155,829

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