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 116,971,625
Belgium 24,468,477
Viet Nam 4,957,093
United States 3,930,898
Italy 2,996,367

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 62,158,284 54,813,341 -7,344,943
Belgium 13,312,011 11,156,466 -2,155,545
Viet Nam 2,900,966 2,056,127 -844,839
United States 1,934,133 1,996,765 +62,632
Italy 1,812,441 1,183,926 -628,515
France 1,912,279 1,029,669 -882,610
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 1,903,791 999,231 -904,560
India 2,049,025 834,233 -1,214,792
Netherlands 895,971 1,575,084 +679,113
Switzerland 1,081,917 1,040,603 -41,314

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 141,396,023
Viet Nam 10,551,892
Indonesia 5,117,244
India 2,958,068
United States 2,745,892

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 75,496,873 65,899,150 -9,597,723
Viet Nam 6,046,373 4,505,519 -1,540,854
Indonesia 2,907,284 2,209,960 -697,324
India 2,108,396 849,672 -1,258,724
United States 1,272,421 1,473,471 +201,050
Italy 1,432,404 1,000,859 -431,545
Thailand 954,254 938,714 -15,540
Bangladesh 628,142 1,029,852 +401,710
France 946,831 678,210 -268,621
Cambodia 896,755 685,212 -211,543

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 113
Outer London - West and North West 63
Inner London - East 55
Greater Manchester 53
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 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 75 80 +5
Outer London - West and North West 38 43 +5
Inner London - East 33 36 +3
Greater Manchester 40 33 -7
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 33 35 +2
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 27 32 +5
Surrey, East and West Sussex 23 28 +5
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 28 18 -10
West Midlands 22 22 +0
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 20 19 -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) 118,342,316
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 32,136,733
Air transport 20,523,845
Other 3,170,886
Road transport 2,434,805

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) 63,340,207 55,002,109 -8,338,098
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 18,209,495 13,927,238 -4,282,257
Air transport 10,424,922 10,098,923 -325,999
Other 1,939,719 1,231,167 -708,552
Road transport 1,040,021 1,394,784 +354,763

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Felixstowe 58,981,226
London Gateway Port 28,091,912
Southampton 22,923,137
Dover / Eurotunnel 11,899,901
London Heathrow Airport 7,374,107

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 40,029,507 18,951,719 -21,077,788
London Gateway Port 5,533,064 22,558,848 +17,025,784
Southampton 14,486,792 8,436,345 -6,050,447
Dover / Eurotunnel 6,662,011 5,237,890 -1,424,121
London Heathrow Airport 3,953,118 3,420,989 -532,129
499 1,290,230 4,243,674 +2,953,444
Dover 3,115,014 2,267,369 -847,645
Eurotunnel 2,615,306 2,194,049 -421,257
London 2,388,955 1,455,939 -933,016
ZLC 1,359,349 2,020,231 +660,882

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 343
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 304
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 52
Other manufacturing 46
Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities 32

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-04 108
2026-03 131
2026-02 134
2026-01 109
2025-12 114

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 344
54m+ 266
0-1m 125
15m-54m 90
Other 84

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 4,679,595
Ireland 2,860,694
Germany 1,808,342
France 1,788,014
United States 1,580,615

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 2,513,155 2,166,440 -346,715
Ireland 600,039 2,260,655 +1,660,616
Germany 1,134,818 673,524 -461,294
France 888,904 899,110 +10,206
United States 686,208 894,407 +208,199
Spain 1,404,024 104,467 -1,299,557
Italy 485,770 622,247 +136,477
Netherlands 430,308 557,256 +126,948
United Arab Emirates 196,296 618,376 +422,080
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 397,671 376,838 -20,833

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 34,896
Ireland 3,586
Belgium 2,064
Viet Nam 673
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 15,736 19,160 +3,424
Ireland 3,586 0 -3,586
Belgium 2,064 0 -2,064
Viet Nam 600 73 -527
Bangladesh 365 63 -302
XI 158 209 +51
Indonesia 269 63 -206
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 11,885,807
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 8,963,125
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 2,785,869
Other 111,692

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 6,987,654 4,898,153 -2,089,501
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 4,328,573 4,634,552 +305,979
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 1,326,963 1,458,906 +131,943
Other 78,623 33,069 -45,554

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 7,099,268
Dover / Eurotunnel 5,585,137
East Midlands Airport 2,984,241
Holyhead 2,546,224
ZLC 1,271,771

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 3,959,755 3,139,513 -820,242
Dover / Eurotunnel 3,438,723 2,146,414 -1,292,309
East Midlands Airport 1,914,408 1,069,833 -844,575
Holyhead 365,558 2,180,666 +1,815,108
ZLC 778,036 493,735 -284,301
London Gateway Port 147,068 690,200 +543,132
Southampton 690,112 113,766 -576,346
Liverpool Docks 107,636 456,071 +348,435
Dover 248,563 146,230 -102,333
Felixstowe 197,985 140,023 -57,962

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