Import/export HS code 42021299: Various plastic or fabric containers

Other types of containers with outer surfaces made of plastic or fabric, not including briefcases or school bags

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 £
China 111,662,657
Belgium 22,425,235
Viet Nam 4,608,489
United States 3,506,491
Italy 2,817,448

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 £
China 65,751,534 45,911,123 -19,840,411
Belgium 12,744,569 9,680,666 -3,063,903
Viet Nam 2,697,954 1,910,535 -787,419
United States 1,672,406 1,834,085 +161,679
Italy 1,702,016 1,115,432 -586,584
India 2,039,021 577,930 -1,461,091
France 1,641,912 974,252 -667,660
Netherlands 833,281 1,731,117 +897,836
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 1,584,298 907,568 -676,730
Switzerland 1,092,810 917,753 -175,057

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 £
China 133,806,529
Viet Nam 9,816,903
Indonesia 5,072,614
India 2,688,631
United States 2,575,036

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 £
China 77,500,102 56,306,427 -21,193,675
Viet Nam 5,682,928 4,133,975 -1,548,953
Indonesia 2,994,284 2,078,330 -915,954
India 2,085,671 602,960 -1,482,711
United States 1,413,691 1,161,345 -252,346
Italy 1,377,654 950,030 -427,624
Thailand 945,010 914,192 -30,818
Cambodia 921,344 799,193 -122,151
Bangladesh 652,268 930,389 +278,121
France 840,961 610,080 -230,881

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 104
Outer London - West and North West 63
Inner London - East 55
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 51
Greater Manchester 51

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 72 75 +3
Outer London - West and North West 39 41 +2
Inner London - East 33 35 +2
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 37 32 -5
Greater Manchester 38 32 -6
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 29 27 -2
Surrey, East and West Sussex 26 28 +2
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 30 17 -13
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 21 18 -3
West Midlands 20 21 +1

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) 112,494,400
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 29,846,298
Air transport 19,429,514
Other 3,027,353
Road transport 2,340,097

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) 64,900,597 47,593,803 -17,306,794
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 17,314,571 12,531,727 -4,782,844
Air transport 10,657,022 8,772,492 -1,884,530
Other 2,507,085 520,268 -1,986,817
Road transport 1,058,401 1,281,696 +223,295

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Felixstowe 53,739,738
London Gateway Port 29,454,924
Southampton 21,398,822
Dover / Eurotunnel 11,249,827
London Heathrow Airport 6,833,765

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 £
Felixstowe 36,952,998 16,786,740 -20,166,258
London Gateway Port 11,963,733 17,491,191 +5,527,458
Southampton 13,068,953 8,329,869 -4,739,084
Dover / Eurotunnel 6,592,250 4,657,577 -1,934,673
London Heathrow Airport 3,724,549 3,109,216 -615,333
499 1,689,146 4,033,086 +2,343,940
Dover 3,149,888 2,010,052 -1,139,836
Eurotunnel 2,548,340 1,875,726 -672,614
ZLC 1,358,777 1,824,605 +465,828
000 2,507,085 520,268 -1,986,817

Importer companies by SIC division

What this shows: Industry breakdown (SIC divisions) of importing companies.

Top 5 values

SIC Companies
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
336
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
298
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities
52
Other manufacturing
44
Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities
33

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 120
2026-04 108
2026-03 131
2026-02 134
2026-01 109

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 340
54m+ 255
0-1m 122
15m-54m 89
Other 81

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 £
Japan 4,381,828
Ireland 2,793,162
France 1,596,149
United States 1,511,367
Germany 1,487,185

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 £
Japan 2,342,664 2,039,164 -303,500
Ireland 570,045 2,223,117 +1,653,072
France 816,640 779,509 -37,131
United States 635,293 876,074 +240,781
Germany 940,695 546,490 -394,205
Spain 1,340,613 72,242 -1,268,371
Italy 504,057 531,441 +27,384
Netherlands 499,991 508,227 +8,236
United Arab Emirates 176,295 607,649 +431,354
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 364,265 339,859 -24,406

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 £
China 33,176
Ireland 3,586
Belgium 2,064
Viet Nam 607
Bangladesh 428

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 £
China 17,287 15,889 -1,398
Ireland 3,586 0 -3,586
Belgium 2,064 0 -2,064
Viet Nam 534 73 -461
Bangladesh 428 0 -428
XI 138 205 +67
Indonesia 182 63 -119
France 0 65 +65
Poland 45 7 -38

Export volume by transport

What this shows: Export value by transport mode used to ship goods from the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Air transport 10,647,754
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 8,574,781
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 2,789,203
Other 104,129

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 £
Air transport 6,375,378 4,272,376 -2,103,002
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 4,376,133 4,198,648 -177,485
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 1,065,020 1,724,183 +659,163
Other 79,300 24,829 -54,471

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 6,554,384
Dover / Eurotunnel 5,263,029
Holyhead 2,499,116
East Midlands Airport 2,413,771
ZLC 1,210,911

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 £
London Heathrow Airport 3,789,644 2,764,740 -1,024,904
Dover / Eurotunnel 3,481,175 1,781,854 -1,699,321
Holyhead 364,217 2,134,899 +1,770,682
East Midlands Airport 1,514,354 899,417 -614,937
ZLC 788,062 422,849 -365,213
London Gateway Port 138,735 939,492 +800,757
Southampton 647,552 123,255 -524,297
Liverpool Docks 102,157 450,657 +348,500
Dover 244,533 135,434 -109,099
London Stansted Airport 163,819 110,168 -53,651

Quick facts

HS code: 42021299

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

Description: Other types of containers with outer surfaces made of plastic or fabric, not including briefcases or school bags