Import/export HS code 3908: Plastic raw materials: Polyamides

Basic forms of polyamides, used to make plastics like nylon. These are the starting materials for many plastic products

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 143,633,939
United States 112,034,613
Canada 69,496,081
Netherlands 65,877,213
France 50,099,422

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 74,693,525 68,940,414 -5,753,111
United States 60,992,582 51,042,031 -9,950,551
Canada 37,149,726 32,346,355 -4,803,371
Netherlands 35,703,921 30,173,292 -5,530,629
France 22,484,232 27,615,190 +5,130,958
Italy 16,545,526 18,179,767 +1,634,241
Belgium 19,606,257 11,754,917 -7,851,340
Switzerland 7,009,604 8,231,351 +1,221,747
Spain 6,757,341 7,819,392 +1,062,051
Turkey 4,989,090 4,973,064 -16,026

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 £
United States 141,608,742
Germany 129,522,481
Canada 69,194,066
France 66,194,436
Italy 41,133,826

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 £
United States 71,735,105 69,873,637 -1,861,468
Germany 64,932,886 64,589,595 -343,291
Canada 36,954,517 32,239,549 -4,714,968
France 37,151,363 29,043,073 -8,108,290
Italy 20,253,516 20,880,310 +626,794
Netherlands 21,393,817 15,665,093 -5,728,724
Belgium 10,650,348 5,102,977 -5,547,371
Spain 7,024,190 7,897,184 +872,994
Switzerland 6,265,403 6,739,764 +474,361
Turkey 5,147,771 5,038,476 -109,295

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Greater Manchester 27
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 23
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 19
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 18
Surrey, East and West Sussex 16

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 21 22 +1
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 17 18 +1
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 14 13 -1
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 11 15 +4
Surrey, East and West Sussex 12 9 -3
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 8 13 +5
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 11 8 -3
West Yorkshire 10 10 +0
Inner London - West 9 11 +2
Shropshire and Staffordshire 11 11 +0

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) 296,481,379
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 236,777,232
Air transport 16,068,063
Road transport 14,626,674
Other 1,681,589

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) 152,455,710 144,025,669 -8,430,041
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 127,789,442 108,987,790 -18,801,652
Air transport 7,405,797 8,662,266 +1,256,469
Road transport 7,204,631 7,422,043 +217,412
Other 1,122,763 558,826 -563,937

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 131,304,528
Belfast Port 82,961,025
Southampton 73,655,273
Immingham Docks 47,695,673
Felixstowe 27,500,590

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 £
Dover 66,534,099 64,770,429 -1,763,670
Belfast Port 44,822,629 38,138,396 -6,684,233
Southampton 39,083,571 34,571,702 -4,511,869
Immingham Docks 24,299,104 23,396,569 -902,535
Felixstowe 14,453,638 13,046,952 -1,406,686
London 15,950,745 11,231,128 -4,719,617
Liverpool Docks 11,182,782 11,386,978 +204,196
Eurotunnel 13,375,988 8,932,620 -4,443,368
Hull 8,927,723 12,435,089 +3,507,366
Newhaven 7,646,480 7,954,460 +307,980

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 79
Manufacture of rubber and plastic products 73
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products 61
Other manufacturing 34
Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment 19

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-04 93
2026-03 94
2026-02 85
2026-01 97
2025-12 83

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+ 143
1m-15m 101
15m-54m 47
0-1m 26
Other 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 £
Germany 17,287,831
United States 15,908,017
France 12,709,405
Belgium 8,617,148
Netherlands 7,740,927

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 8,000,128 9,287,703 +1,287,575
United States 8,078,300 7,829,717 -248,583
France 6,225,989 6,483,416 +257,427
Belgium 5,092,995 3,524,153 -1,568,842
Netherlands 3,291,357 4,449,570 +1,158,213
China 3,913,372 2,886,125 -1,027,247
Mexico 2,141,513 2,076,874 -64,639
Italy 1,778,090 2,057,892 +279,802
Romania 1,498,255 839,892 -658,363
Ireland 1,021,829 1,146,722 +124,893

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 262,630
Italy 138,948
United States 48,941
Germany 24,293
China 10,345

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 1,675 260,955 +259,280
Italy 137,672 1,276 -136,396
United States 48,788 153 -48,635
Germany 8,382 15,911 +7,529
China 3,985 6,360 +2,375
India 4,565 0 -4,565
Netherlands 920 1,320 +400
Ireland 426 129 -297
Poland 220 231 +11
Czechia 0 156 +156

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) 58,922,164
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 38,912,212
Air transport 7,517,342
Other 514,103
Rail transport 157,248

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) 30,248,749 28,673,415 -1,575,334
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 18,826,828 20,085,384 +1,258,556
Air transport 4,040,429 3,476,913 -563,516
Other 218,577 295,526 +76,949
Rail transport 157,248 0 -157,248
Road transport 152,649 0 -152,649

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 39,949,386
Immingham Docks 14,986,148
Southampton 7,622,126
Hull 6,581,257
Felixstowe 5,750,198

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 18,934,197 21,015,189 +2,080,992
Immingham Docks 8,409,535 6,576,613 -1,832,922
Southampton 4,119,920 3,502,206 -617,714
Hull 3,194,673 3,386,584 +191,911
Felixstowe 3,594,626 2,155,572 -1,439,054
London Gateway Port 1,997,770 3,463,258 +1,465,488
Belfast Port 2,290,360 1,987,313 -303,047
Liverpool Docks 1,400,267 1,934,488 +534,221
London Heathrow Airport 1,658,375 1,317,486 -340,889
East Midlands Airport 1,242,605 954,881 -287,724

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 3908

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

Description: Basic forms of polyamides, used to make plastics like nylon. These are the starting materials for many plastic products