Import/export HS code 4820: Paper and cardboard stationery items

Includes registers, notebooks, diaries, exercise books, binders, folders, business forms, and albums for samples or collections

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 198,287,857
India 44,858,097
France 30,376,700
Estonia 27,322,059
Germany 18,414,157

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 106,784,549 91,503,308 -15,281,241
India 23,530,658 21,327,439 -2,203,219
France 15,831,170 14,545,530 -1,285,640
Estonia 13,823,926 13,498,133 -325,793
Germany 10,015,907 8,398,250 -1,617,657
Netherlands 7,011,834 9,367,206 +2,355,372
Italy 7,781,492 8,091,053 +309,561
Poland 6,295,650 5,499,847 -795,803
Malaysia 6,064,386 5,711,493 -352,893
United States 3,174,564 2,426,209 -748,355

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 219,352,418
India 45,258,162
Estonia 27,419,776
Poland 22,799,912
France 15,690,875

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 117,298,326 102,054,092 -15,244,234
India 23,933,810 21,324,352 -2,609,458
Estonia 13,828,634 13,591,142 -237,492
Poland 11,337,416 11,462,496 +125,080
France 8,285,131 7,405,744 -879,387
Italy 5,562,758 6,357,908 +795,150
Malaysia 5,634,377 5,761,251 +126,874
United States 5,688,698 2,748,058 -2,940,640
Germany 3,948,974 3,987,973 +38,999
Turkey 2,823,856 2,938,221 +114,365

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 293
Greater Manchester 120
Inner London - East 111
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 110
Outer London - West and North West 96

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 200 204 +4
Greater Manchester 86 74 -12
Inner London - East 67 86 +19
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 78 71 -7
Outer London - West and North West 68 60 -8
Surrey, East and West Sussex 61 59 -2
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 52 57 +5
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 43 46 +3
West Yorkshire 37 41 +4
West Midlands 32 34 +2

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) 245,230,972
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 117,216,052
Air transport 43,245,119
Other 6,366,162
Road transport 705,625

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) 130,190,907 115,040,065 -15,150,842
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 60,175,046 57,041,006 -3,134,040
Air transport 21,701,477 21,543,642 -157,835
Other 4,705,059 1,661,103 -3,043,956
Road transport 269,458 436,167 +166,709

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Felixstowe 117,271,512
Southampton 76,593,246
Dover 36,608,605
London Gateway Port 28,799,198
Harwich 28,389,634

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 73,431,132 43,840,380 -29,590,752
Southampton 41,193,107 35,400,139 -5,792,968
Dover 17,241,782 19,366,823 +2,125,041
London Gateway Port 6,392,258 22,406,940 +16,014,682
Harwich 20,035,174 8,354,460 -11,680,714
London 5,175,828 15,955,393 +10,779,565
Eurotunnel 6,391,043 6,455,112 +64,069
Birmingham Airport 6,183,015 6,010,653 -172,362
London Heathrow Airport 4,344,759 5,192,259 +847,500
Liverpool Docks 4,653,626 3,624,764 -1,028,862

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 549
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 531
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 143
Other manufacturing 82
Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities 57

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-04 255
2026-03 271
2026-02 295
2026-01 250
2025-12 265

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 633
54m+ 522
0-1m 321
15m-54m 186
Other 163

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 42,818,181
United States 7,376,515
Netherlands 7,272,415
France 6,275,472
Germany 6,172,622

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 21,928,757 20,889,424 -1,039,333
United States 4,293,754 3,082,761 -1,210,993
Netherlands 4,035,405 3,237,010 -798,395
France 3,133,163 3,142,309 +9,146
Germany 3,033,120 3,139,502 +106,382
Italy 1,374,904 1,180,780 -194,124
United Arab Emirates 1,114,794 820,416 -294,378
Poland 911,733 784,572 -127,161
Canada 597,313 896,310 +298,997
Spain 821,117 649,602 -171,515

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 3,588,887
China 94,727
Switzerland 14,933
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 14,145
Ireland 13,587

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 1,998,154 1,590,733 -407,421
China 57,978 36,749 -21,229
Switzerland 14 14,919 +14,905
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 7,614 6,531 -1,083
Ireland 10,686 2,901 -7,785
India 19 5,486 +5,467
Malaysia 1,295 915 -380
Spain 0 1,045 +1,045
France 246 0 -246
Portugal 98 0 -98

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) 64,868,311
Air transport 19,524,142
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 11,523,775
Other 3,797,243
Road transport 2,800

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) 33,212,690 31,655,621 -1,557,069
Air transport 10,641,194 8,882,948 -1,758,246
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 6,624,988 4,898,787 -1,726,201
Other 2,110,865 1,686,378 -424,487
Road transport 2,800 0 -2,800

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Holyhead 28,553,616
Dover / Eurotunnel 20,969,385
East Midlands Airport 9,331,794
Liverpool Docks 6,853,095
London Heathrow Airport 5,944,557

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 £
Holyhead 13,710,162 14,843,454 +1,133,292
Dover / Eurotunnel 10,816,584 10,152,801 -663,783
East Midlands Airport 5,446,573 3,885,221 -1,561,352
Liverpool Docks 3,654,168 3,198,927 -455,241
London Heathrow Airport 3,183,667 2,760,890 -422,777
London Gateway Port 2,361,707 1,520,002 -841,705
000 2,110,865 1,686,378 -424,487
Southampton 1,660,929 1,115,673 -545,256
Immingham Docks 1,409,061 1,067,482 -341,579
ZLC 872,695 1,390,094 +517,399

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 4820

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

Description: Includes registers, notebooks, diaries, exercise books, binders, folders, business forms, and albums for samples or collections