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 136,852,129
United States 105,713,643
Canada 65,183,143
Netherlands 63,273,928
France 52,082,590

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 73,420,802 63,431,327 -9,989,475
United States 57,347,758 48,365,885 -8,981,873
Canada 37,279,564 27,903,579 -9,375,985
Netherlands 36,328,224 26,945,704 -9,382,520
France 23,935,236 28,147,354 +4,212,118
Italy 16,354,447 17,337,748 +983,301
Belgium 17,364,880 9,928,524 -7,436,356
Switzerland 7,105,312 7,632,077 +526,765
Spain 6,829,835 7,358,406 +528,571
Turkey 5,112,450 4,624,113 -488,337

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 137,880,637
Germany 124,330,546
Canada 64,876,785
France 62,882,923
Italy 39,669,132

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 69,314,261 68,566,376 -747,885
Germany 64,881,920 59,448,626 -5,433,294
Canada 37,014,481 27,862,304 -9,152,177
France 37,587,676 25,295,247 -12,292,429
Italy 20,059,790 19,609,342 -450,448
Netherlands 20,443,218 14,368,441 -6,074,777
Spain 7,089,622 7,372,982 +283,360
Belgium 8,918,696 4,979,867 -3,938,829
Switzerland 6,392,220 5,945,077 -447,143
Turkey 5,248,756 4,663,615 -585,141

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Greater Manchester 28
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 23
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 18
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 18
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 14

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 23 19 -4
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 15 18 +3
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 13 12 -1
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 13 13 +0
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 8 13 +5
Surrey, East and West Sussex 12 8 -4
Shropshire and Staffordshire 11 11 +0
West Midlands 10 8 -2
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 10 8 -2
Inner London - West 8 12 +4

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) 287,471,641
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 220,822,492
Air transport 15,485,961
Road transport 15,289,723
Other 1,247,275

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) 153,074,625 134,397,016 -18,677,609
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 120,769,253 100,053,239 -20,716,014
Air transport 7,881,839 7,604,122 -277,717
Road transport 7,360,732 7,928,991 +568,259
Other 791,837 455,438 -336,399

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 130,237,808
Belfast Port 79,438,000
Southampton 69,289,705
Immingham Docks 45,800,695
Felixstowe 25,696,650

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 68,000,974 62,236,834 -5,764,140
Belfast Port 41,427,800 38,010,200 -3,417,600
Southampton 39,406,238 29,883,467 -9,522,771
Immingham Docks 24,037,222 21,763,473 -2,273,749
Felixstowe 13,398,695 12,297,955 -1,100,740
London 14,927,364 10,193,274 -4,734,090
Eurotunnel 11,048,735 9,585,218 -1,463,517
Hull 9,428,780 11,114,461 +1,685,681
Liverpool Docks 10,371,141 10,169,630 -201,511
Newhaven 8,217,872 6,994,127 -1,223,745

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
77
Manufacture of rubber and plastic products
73
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products
60
Other manufacturing
36
Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment
18

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 94
2026-04 93
2026-03 94
2026-02 85
2026-01 97

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+ 138
1m-15m 98
15m-54m 50
0-1m 26
Other 23

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 17,606,561
United States 14,764,796
France 12,007,541
Belgium 7,820,573
Netherlands 7,367,990

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 7,728,636 9,877,925 +2,149,289
United States 7,599,940 7,164,856 -435,084
France 6,647,124 5,360,417 -1,286,707
Belgium 4,540,687 3,279,886 -1,260,801
Netherlands 3,224,117 4,143,873 +919,756
China 3,881,053 2,523,206 -1,357,847
Mexico 2,814,353 1,469,002 -1,345,351
Italy 1,704,587 2,007,780 +303,193
Romania 1,400,891 761,373 -639,518
Ireland 941,753 1,049,642 +107,889

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 263,936
Italy 111,629
United States 48,941
Germany 24,904
China 10,217

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 27,153 236,783 +209,630
Italy 110,353 1,276 -109,077
United States 48,788 153 -48,635
Germany 12,782 12,122 -660
China 4,492 5,725 +1,233
India 3,170 0 -3,170
Netherlands 1,104 1,137 +33
Ireland 552 0 -552
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) 57,494,842
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 36,253,035
Air transport 7,419,179
Other 487,767
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) 29,863,836 27,631,006 -2,232,830
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 18,839,046 17,413,989 -1,425,057
Air transport 4,054,308 3,364,871 -689,437
Other 221,240 266,527 +45,287
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 39,402,324
Immingham Docks 14,152,635
Southampton 7,061,993
Hull 6,313,167
Felixstowe 5,565,307

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 19,207,840 20,194,484 +986,644
Immingham Docks 7,781,536 6,371,099 -1,410,437
Southampton 4,388,189 2,673,804 -1,714,385
Hull 2,941,407 3,371,760 +430,353
Felixstowe 3,632,788 1,932,519 -1,700,269
London Gateway Port 2,246,637 2,957,631 +710,994
Belfast Port 2,036,583 1,787,555 -249,028
Liverpool Docks 1,558,116 1,658,991 +100,875
London Heathrow Airport 1,750,777 1,150,815 -599,962
East Midlands Airport 1,196,786 837,232 -359,554

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