Import/export HS code 340242: Non-ionic surface-active agents

Cleaning agents without a charge, used in detergents and emulsifiers

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 114,026,846
Netherlands 69,854,028
Italy 33,733,360
Ireland 19,952,821
Belgium 16,113,291

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 53,643,212 60,383,634 +6,740,422
Netherlands 37,137,397 32,716,631 -4,420,766
Italy 18,759,953 14,973,407 -3,786,546
Ireland 10,409,398 9,543,423 -865,975
Belgium 10,062,511 6,050,780 -4,011,731
France 6,901,420 7,944,213 +1,042,793
Poland 5,763,554 4,036,940 -1,726,614
Slovakia 4,882,017 3,537,885 -1,344,132
New Zealand 4,654,101 3,428,905 -1,225,196
United States 4,342,096 3,066,632 -1,275,464

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 92,710,891
Netherlands 73,656,944
Italy 37,827,835
United States 37,073,449
Belgium 16,317,771

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 43,471,703 49,239,188 +5,767,485
Netherlands 38,572,337 35,084,607 -3,487,730
Italy 21,398,660 16,429,175 -4,969,485
United States 19,181,866 17,891,583 -1,290,283
Belgium 7,890,318 8,427,453 +537,135
Poland 6,478,979 4,989,763 -1,489,216
France 4,573,135 4,890,187 +317,052
Slovakia 5,517,602 3,552,655 -1,964,947
New Zealand 4,657,401 3,545,279 -1,112,122
Spain 3,771,710 4,114,483 +342,773

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Greater Manchester 47
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 30
West Yorkshire 28
Inner London - West 26
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 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
Greater Manchester 38 34 -4
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 22 23 +1
West Yorkshire 20 26 +6
Inner London - West 20 19 -1
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 20 15 -5
Cheshire 16 12 -4
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 9 13 +4
Lancashire 13 12 -1
Shropshire and Staffordshire 12 10 -2
Merseyside 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) 203,525,688
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 126,475,850
Air transport 6,086,982
Other 4,125,105
Road transport 912,888

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) 99,647,677 103,878,011 +4,230,334
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 68,464,805 58,011,045 -10,453,760
Air transport 2,794,911 3,292,071 +497,160
Other 3,281,285 843,820 -2,437,465
Road transport 307,983 604,905 +296,922
Rail transport 3,418 0 -3,418

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Immingham Docks 112,451,934
London 59,366,764
Dover 30,850,561
Felixstowe 23,043,851
Middlesbrough 19,303,154

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 54,799,076 57,652,858 +2,853,782
London 28,624,356 30,742,408 +2,118,052
Dover 13,964,032 16,886,529 +2,922,497
Felixstowe 12,613,157 10,430,694 -2,182,463
Middlesbrough 10,906,997 8,396,157 -2,510,840
Holyhead 9,460,861 9,449,952 -10,909
Hull 8,667,640 6,729,265 -1,938,375
Killingholme 7,768,439 3,135,003 -4,633,436
London Gateway Port 5,696,044 4,903,465 -792,579
Eurotunnel 4,980,312 5,070,965 +90,653

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 174
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 93
Other manufacturing 34
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 19
Manufacture of food products 18

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-04 130
2026-03 143
2026-02 121
2026-01 130
2025-12 101

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+ 209
1m-15m 133
15m-54m 57
Other 28
0-1m 27

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 £
China 9,374,683
Germany 8,385,312
United States 8,191,017
Ireland 8,030,647
France 7,922,930

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 £
China 598,203 8,776,480 +8,178,277
Germany 4,365,521 4,019,791 -345,730
United States 4,715,831 3,475,186 -1,240,645
Ireland 4,293,432 3,737,215 -556,217
France 2,852,542 5,070,388 +2,217,846
Netherlands 2,285,606 3,273,664 +988,058
Italy 2,123,662 2,235,796 +112,134
Spain 2,316,647 1,803,678 -512,969
Poland 1,590,128 1,945,637 +355,509
India 1,433,434 1,851,978 +418,544

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 295,388
Czechia 48,517
Poland 9,213
Belgium 1,446
Italy 34

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 160,453 134,935 -25,518
Czechia 24,046 24,471 +425
Poland 1,730 7,483 +5,753
Belgium 512 934 +422
Italy 0 34 +34
Ireland 0 8 +8

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) 50,740,585
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 35,836,165
Air transport 13,181,916
Other 364,525

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) 24,788,738 25,951,847 +1,163,109
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 18,687,263 17,148,902 -1,538,361
Air transport 2,419,320 10,762,596 +8,343,276
Other 193,410 171,115 -22,295

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 23,963,900
London Gateway Port 13,266,816
Immingham Docks 13,027,533
ZLC 8,259,478
Southampton 7,051,400

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 12,695,174 11,268,726 -1,426,448
London Gateway Port 7,167,868 6,098,948 -1,068,920
Immingham Docks 6,245,370 6,782,163 +536,793
ZLC 245,932 8,013,546 +7,767,614
Southampton 3,027,655 4,023,745 +996,090
Liverpool Docks 3,309,122 2,561,075 -748,047
Felixstowe 2,311,371 2,794,196 +482,825
Holyhead 1,766,535 2,183,614 +417,079
London 981,465 2,937,952 +1,956,487
Grangemouth Docks 2,168,473 944,598 -1,223,875

Quick facts

HS code: 340242

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

Description: Cleaning agents without a charge, used in detergents and emulsifiers