Import/export HS code 4817: Envelopes and paper stationery

Includes envelopes, letter cards, plain postcards, and correspondence cards made of paper or paperboard. Also includes boxes, pouches, wallets, and writing compendiums containing assorted paper stationery

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 25,879,869
Poland 15,095,772
France 10,110,203
Netherlands 4,770,906
Germany 3,989,050

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 15,549,352 10,330,517 -5,218,835
Poland 9,387,972 5,707,800 -3,680,172
France 5,023,244 5,086,959 +63,715
Netherlands 1,116,371 3,654,535 +2,538,164
Germany 1,833,306 2,155,744 +322,438
Italy 1,667,098 1,222,637 -444,461
Turkey 1,553,238 1,244,829 -308,409
United States 654,359 2,056,851 +1,402,492
Spain 1,253,074 1,401,498 +148,424
Slovakia 1,513,425 766,333 -747,092

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 29,116,807
Poland 19,607,703
Germany 5,400,028
France 3,631,301
Slovakia 3,253,379

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 17,374,253 11,742,554 -5,631,699
Poland 10,778,618 8,829,085 -1,949,533
Germany 2,022,284 3,377,744 +1,355,460
France 2,226,849 1,404,452 -822,397
Slovakia 2,037,127 1,216,252 -820,875
Italy 1,712,626 1,264,084 -448,542
United States 803,331 2,112,790 +1,309,459
Turkey 1,566,290 1,295,339 -270,951
Spain 1,010,696 1,279,557 +268,861
India 1,001,280 927,524 -73,756

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 136
Greater Manchester 45
Inner London - East 45
Outer London - West and North West 36
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 35

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 103 88 -15
Greater Manchester 30 28 -2
Inner London - East 24 30 +6
Outer London - West and North West 23 25 +2
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 24 21 -3
Surrey, East and West Sussex 20 23 +3
West Midlands 20 21 +1
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 18 13 -5
West Yorkshire 17 14 -3
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 15 13 -2

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) 42,696,492
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 32,246,144
Air transport 7,266,639
Other 944,398
Road transport 92,976

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) 23,887,924 18,808,568 -5,079,356
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 16,751,831 15,494,313 -1,257,518
Air transport 3,653,877 3,612,762 -41,115
Other 744,201 200,197 -544,004
Road transport 51,362 41,614 -9,748

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 25,947,792
Felixstowe 15,569,791
Southampton 8,082,462
Eurotunnel 4,952,425
London Gateway Port 4,647,304

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 15,145,520 10,802,272 -4,343,248
Felixstowe 10,124,894 5,444,897 -4,679,997
Southampton 5,303,619 2,778,843 -2,524,776
Eurotunnel 2,651,150 2,301,275 -349,875
London Gateway Port 721,647 3,925,657 +3,204,010
Harwich 1,771,827 2,446,236 +674,409
London 1,067,034 1,924,876 +857,842
London Heathrow Airport 1,729,928 1,018,490 -711,438
Thamesport 215,785 1,781,255 +1,565,470
East Midlands Airport 640,028 1,092,847 +452,819

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 277
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 215
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 45
Other manufacturing 29
Manufacture of paper and paper products 23

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 90
2025-11 113
2025-10 120
2025-09 105
2025-08 101

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 277
54m+ 181
0-1m 117
15m-54m 74
Other 63

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 £
Ireland 6,041,533
France 6,024,732
United States 2,650,350
Germany 2,344,845
Sweden 2,093,123

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 £
Ireland 3,544,837 2,496,696 -1,048,141
France 3,217,171 2,807,561 -409,610
United States 1,058,778 1,591,572 +532,794
Germany 1,494,857 849,988 -644,869
Sweden 1,388,975 704,148 -684,827
Netherlands 1,166,446 477,041 -689,405
Czechia 731,264 627,779 -103,485
Spain 334,393 572,640 +238,247
Italy 277,408 570,164 +292,756
United Arab Emirates 435,417 107,511 -327,906

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 £
Netherlands 14,245
XI 12,794
Poland 6,377
France 2,762
China 1,807

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 £
Netherlands 6,506 7,739 +1,233
XI 3,864 8,930 +5,066
Poland 4,091 2,286 -1,805
France 2,762 0 -2,762
China 280 1,527 +1,247
Finland 655 0 -655
Ireland 337 280 -57
Viet Nam 3 0 -3

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) 20,479,162
Air transport 5,451,194
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 2,582,733
Other 173,453

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) 11,220,721 9,258,441 -1,962,280
Air transport 3,074,267 2,376,927 -697,340
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 1,325,159 1,257,574 -67,585
Other 77,469 95,984 +18,515

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 10,596,887
Holyhead 2,990,296
London Heathrow Airport 2,321,702
Liverpool Docks 2,279,736
East Midlands Airport 1,932,333

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 5,327,128 5,269,759 -57,369
Holyhead 1,811,442 1,178,854 -632,588
London Heathrow Airport 1,082,391 1,239,311 +156,920
Liverpool Docks 1,288,730 991,006 -297,724
East Midlands Airport 1,261,358 670,975 -590,383
Dover 1,200,603 557,546 -643,057
Immingham Docks 895,522 455,062 -440,460
London 779,331 418,139 -361,192
Heysham 331,209 483,838 +152,629
London Stansted Airport 430,022 229,946 -200,076

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 4817

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

Description: Includes envelopes, letter cards, plain postcards, and correspondence cards made of paper or paperboard. Also includes boxes, pouches, wallets, and writing compendiums containing assorted paper stationery