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 117,422,615
Netherlands 70,169,745
Italy 32,680,216
Ireland 20,211,935
Belgium 15,834,076

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 54,671,745 62,750,870 +8,079,125
Netherlands 36,848,338 33,321,407 -3,526,931
Italy 17,750,928 14,929,288 -2,821,640
Ireland 10,455,809 9,756,126 -699,683
Belgium 9,825,405 6,008,671 -3,816,734
France 7,240,910 7,448,016 +207,106
Poland 5,772,664 4,160,557 -1,612,107
Slovakia 4,751,721 3,469,348 -1,282,373
New Zealand 4,707,394 3,302,934 -1,404,460
United States 4,038,364 2,984,639 -1,053,725

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 94,913,563
Netherlands 74,613,056
United States 37,355,733
Italy 36,525,013
Belgium 16,554,548

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 43,880,098 51,033,465 +7,153,367
Netherlands 38,605,020 36,008,036 -2,596,984
United States 19,315,902 18,039,831 -1,276,071
Italy 20,130,519 16,394,494 -3,736,025
Belgium 8,088,315 8,466,233 +377,918
Poland 6,580,711 5,224,927 -1,355,784
France 4,807,500 4,682,247 -125,253
Slovakia 5,394,821 3,466,134 -1,928,687
New Zealand 4,710,694 3,419,308 -1,291,386
Spain 3,782,837 3,965,097 +182,260

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Greater Manchester 46
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 31
West Yorkshire 27
Inner London - West 25
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 39 33 -6
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 22 23 +1
West Yorkshire 20 25 +5
Inner London - West 19 19 +0
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 19 17 -2
Cheshire 17 12 -5
Lancashire 14 12 -2
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 8 12 +4
Merseyside 12 10 -2
Shropshire and Staffordshire 11 10 -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) 205,968,840
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 127,338,116
Air transport 6,019,270
Other 3,627,795
Road transport 895,550

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) 100,122,264 105,846,576 +5,724,312
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 68,712,116 58,626,000 -10,086,116
Air transport 2,708,914 3,310,356 +601,442
Other 2,916,682 711,113 -2,205,569
Road transport 299,851 595,699 +295,848
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 114,988,542
London 59,679,491
Dover 30,573,335
Felixstowe 23,337,443
Holyhead 19,199,787

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 55,270,369 59,718,173 +4,447,804
London 28,484,617 31,194,874 +2,710,257
Dover 14,039,049 16,534,286 +2,495,237
Felixstowe 13,328,660 10,008,783 -3,319,877
Holyhead 9,541,457 9,658,330 +116,873
Middlesbrough 10,709,334 8,252,241 -2,457,093
Hull 8,451,661 7,115,201 -1,336,460
Killingholme 7,679,839 3,181,167 -4,498,672
London Gateway Port 5,661,899 4,869,089 -792,810
Eurotunnel 5,287,976 4,905,205 -382,771

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
176
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
92
Other manufacturing
34
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities
19
Manufacture of food products
17

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 126
2026-04 130
2026-03 143
2026-02 121
2026-01 130

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+ 212
1m-15m 131
15m-54m 59
Other 27
0-1m 25

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 9,410,537
Germany 8,846,217
Ireland 7,896,393
France 7,882,677
United States 7,620,273

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 612,801 8,797,736 +8,184,935
Germany 4,375,583 4,470,634 +95,051
Ireland 4,242,528 3,653,865 -588,663
France 2,840,733 5,041,944 +2,201,211
United States 4,171,291 3,448,982 -722,309
Netherlands 2,360,526 3,270,898 +910,372
Italy 2,135,466 2,286,294 +150,828
Spain 2,166,066 1,732,660 -433,406
Poland 1,726,471 1,777,513 +51,042
India 1,586,024 1,845,672 +259,648

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 291,160
Czechia 44,305
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 139,943 151,217 +11,274
Czechia 19,834 24,471 +4,637
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) 50,461,123
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 35,792,693
Air transport 13,081,878
Other 354,481

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) 24,671,721 25,789,402 +1,117,681
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 18,503,148 17,289,545 -1,213,603
Air transport 2,389,477 10,692,401 +8,302,924
Other 167,597 186,884 +19,287

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 23,566,540
London Gateway Port 13,388,122
Immingham Docks 13,211,793
ZLC 8,269,342
Southampton 7,554,868

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 12,695,123 10,871,417 -1,823,706
London Gateway Port 7,399,023 5,989,099 -1,409,924
Immingham Docks 6,433,423 6,778,370 +344,947
ZLC 272,922 7,996,420 +7,723,498
Southampton 3,312,554 4,242,314 +929,760
Liverpool Docks 2,762,082 2,509,418 -252,664
Felixstowe 2,338,328 2,892,639 +554,311
Holyhead 1,741,927 2,173,786 +431,859
London 860,573 3,034,792 +2,174,219
Grangemouth Docks 1,959,673 1,166,005 -793,668

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