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 26,643,091
Poland 14,322,625
France 10,564,093
Netherlands 6,016,341
Germany 5,411,964

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 15,351,728 11,291,363 -4,060,365
Poland 8,197,661 6,124,964 -2,072,697
France 5,659,997 4,904,096 -755,901
Netherlands 1,920,710 4,095,631 +2,174,921
Germany 2,085,097 3,326,867 +1,241,770
Spain 1,374,286 2,015,475 +641,189
Italy 1,636,958 1,458,703 -178,255
United States 536,166 2,111,289 +1,575,123
Turkey 1,701,764 943,146 -758,618
India 1,043,643 1,083,511 +39,868

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 29,530,101
Poland 19,911,699
Germany 7,012,319
Italy 3,181,532
France 3,113,358

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 17,201,027 12,329,074 -4,871,953
Poland 10,489,892 9,421,807 -1,068,085
Germany 2,568,818 4,443,501 +1,874,683
Italy 1,686,337 1,495,195 -191,142
France 2,085,341 1,028,017 -1,057,324
Turkey 1,734,860 1,228,690 -506,170
Spain 1,168,010 1,784,749 +616,739
United States 682,772 2,262,390 +1,579,618
Slovakia 1,792,094 1,142,355 -649,739
India 1,057,423 1,066,431 +9,008

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 139
Inner London - East 51
Greater Manchester 44
Outer London - West and North West 40
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 37

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 97 92 -5
Inner London - East 33 28 -5
Greater Manchester 29 27 -2
Outer London - West and North West 22 31 +9
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 25 26 +1
Surrey, East and West Sussex 21 25 +4
West Midlands 20 21 +1
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 19 11 -8
Kent 15 12 -3
Shropshire and Staffordshire 13 14 +1

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) 44,080,475
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 33,153,651
Air transport 8,609,872
Other 797,384
Road transport 97,128

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) 23,537,890 20,542,585 -2,995,305
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 16,981,928 16,171,723 -810,205
Air transport 3,836,166 4,773,706 +937,540
Other 627,359 170,025 -457,334
Road transport 24,880 72,248 +47,368

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 25,743,997
Felixstowe 14,019,609
Southampton 7,607,681
London Gateway Port 6,719,371
Harwich 5,483,224

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 14,437,503 11,306,494 -3,131,009
Felixstowe 8,831,847 5,187,762 -3,644,085
Southampton 4,922,982 2,684,699 -2,238,283
London Gateway Port 2,275,178 4,444,193 +2,169,015
Harwich 2,539,576 2,943,648 +404,072
Eurotunnel 2,205,807 3,090,993 +885,186
London 1,668,162 1,694,433 +26,271
London Heathrow Airport 1,822,724 1,316,851 -505,873
Thamesport 211,483 1,796,705 +1,585,222
East Midlands Airport 609,361 1,371,263 +761,902

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
292
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
223
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities
48
Other manufacturing
27
Manufacture of paper and paper products
25

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 91
2026-04 89
2026-03 105
2026-02 88
2026-01 90

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 284
54m+ 178
0-1m 131
15m-54m 70
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 £
France 6,373,163
Ireland 6,144,324
United States 2,652,919
Germany 2,191,225
Sweden 1,722,054

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 £
France 2,831,134 3,542,029 +710,895
Ireland 3,407,111 2,737,213 -669,898
United States 1,085,302 1,567,617 +482,315
Germany 1,159,052 1,032,173 -126,879
Sweden 988,134 733,920 -254,214
Czechia 831,819 775,754 -56,065
Netherlands 951,741 485,618 -466,123
Italy 284,880 927,251 +642,371
Spain 370,167 797,989 +427,822
United Arab Emirates 425,726 109,538 -316,188

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 24,293
Netherlands 16,816
Poland 3,043
China 2,633
France 2,484

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 4,765 19,528 +14,763
Netherlands 7,633 9,183 +1,550
Poland 2,470 573 -1,897
China 1,241 1,392 +151
France 2,484 0 -2,484
Ireland 337 280 -57
Italy 0 34 +34

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) 21,918,551
Air transport 5,372,201
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 2,186,516
Other 204,847

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) 10,638,137 11,280,414 +642,277
Air transport 3,120,824 2,251,377 -869,447
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 1,076,943 1,109,573 +32,630
Other 79,398 125,449 +46,051

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 12,581,903
Holyhead 3,042,145
London Heathrow Airport 2,519,976
Liverpool Docks 2,158,661
East Midlands Airport 1,666,572

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 5,356,962 7,224,941 +1,867,979
Holyhead 1,626,271 1,415,874 -210,397
London Heathrow Airport 1,359,900 1,160,076 -199,824
Liverpool Docks 1,415,201 743,460 -671,741
East Midlands Airport 1,046,743 619,829 -426,914
Immingham Docks 513,256 635,992 +122,736
Dover 697,508 435,402 -262,106
Heysham 383,245 629,362 +246,117
London 722,182 245,486 -476,696
London Stansted Airport 389,384 225,557 -163,827

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