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 188,502,226
India 42,372,996
France 28,028,000
Estonia 26,011,855
Germany 16,970,955

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 106,938,671 81,563,555 -25,375,116
India 23,911,387 18,461,609 -5,449,778
France 15,571,358 12,456,642 -3,114,716
Estonia 13,245,989 12,765,866 -480,123
Germany 8,897,022 8,073,933 -823,089
Italy 8,012,271 7,454,332 -557,939
Netherlands 7,003,109 8,037,135 +1,034,026
Malaysia 6,003,532 5,153,910 -849,622
Poland 6,403,400 4,665,148 -1,738,252
United States 2,901,399 2,303,673 -597,726

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 208,618,792
India 42,812,022
Estonia 26,101,593
Poland 20,657,930
France 14,434,170

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 116,964,085 91,654,707 -25,309,378
India 24,370,569 18,441,453 -5,929,116
Estonia 13,238,828 12,862,765 -376,063
Poland 11,081,042 9,576,888 -1,504,154
France 8,012,847 6,421,323 -1,591,524
Italy 5,843,230 5,754,581 -88,649
Malaysia 5,619,082 5,214,991 -404,091
Germany 3,889,464 3,505,150 -384,314
United States 4,474,648 2,643,344 -1,831,304
Turkey 2,944,436 2,784,347 -160,089

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 298
Greater Manchester 120
Inner London - East 116
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 108
Outer London - West and North West 89

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 200 200 +0
Greater Manchester 90 75 -15
Inner London - East 77 83 +6
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 74 71 -3
Outer London - West and North West 62 58 -4
Surrey, East and West Sussex 59 57 -2
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 54 53 -1
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 43 45 +2
West Yorkshire 36 40 +4
West Midlands 29 33 +4

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) 232,779,980
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 109,634,307
Air transport 42,074,633
Other 5,928,861
Road transport 707,374

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) 130,778,761 102,001,219 -28,777,542
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 58,302,806 51,331,501 -6,971,305
Air transport 21,727,058 20,347,575 -1,379,483
Other 4,899,383 1,029,478 -3,869,905
Road transport 361,283 346,091 -15,192

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Felixstowe 108,064,705
Southampton 72,410,124
Dover 34,851,118
London Gateway Port 30,626,009
Harwich 23,522,595

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 68,772,478 39,292,227 -29,480,251
Southampton 41,231,335 31,178,789 -10,052,546
Dover 17,986,942 16,864,176 -1,122,766
London Gateway Port 11,729,890 18,896,119 +7,166,229
Harwich 16,655,285 6,867,310 -9,787,975
London 7,815,230 14,491,566 +6,676,336
Eurotunnel 6,230,636 6,160,082 -70,554
Birmingham Airport 5,938,941 5,649,848 -289,093
London Heathrow Airport 4,387,403 4,867,754 +480,351
Liverpool Docks 4,302,133 3,729,563 -572,570

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
536
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
535
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities
138
Other manufacturing
81
Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities
56

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 266
2026-04 255
2026-03 271
2026-02 296
2026-01 250

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 623
54m+ 508
0-1m 320
15m-54m 187
Other 156

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 41,263,893
United States 7,068,330
Netherlands 6,808,147
France 5,958,391
Germany 5,956,904

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 22,230,607 19,033,286 -3,197,321
United States 4,229,496 2,838,834 -1,390,662
Netherlands 3,772,302 3,035,845 -736,457
France 3,076,883 2,881,508 -195,375
Germany 3,172,163 2,784,741 -387,422
Italy 1,386,881 1,050,855 -336,026
United Arab Emirates 1,078,793 707,294 -371,499
Spain 797,255 727,103 -70,152
Poland 725,845 785,149 +59,304
Canada 686,125 688,045 +1,920

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 3,521,244
China 75,147
Switzerland 14,919
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 14,004
Ireland 11,188

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 1,950,792 1,570,452 -380,340
China 39,428 35,719 -3,709
Switzerland 0 14,919 +14,919
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 7,674 6,330 -1,344
Ireland 8,587 2,601 -5,986
India 19 5,486 +5,467
Malaysia 1,295 915 -380
Spain 1,025 20 -1,005
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) 62,112,753
Air transport 18,978,746
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 10,644,615
Other 3,696,615
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) 33,554,270 28,558,483 -4,995,787
Air transport 10,743,101 8,235,645 -2,507,456
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 6,417,049 4,227,566 -2,189,483
Other 2,033,206 1,663,409 -369,797
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 27,460,042
Dover / Eurotunnel 19,874,351
East Midlands Airport 8,753,658
Liverpool Docks 6,644,304
London Heathrow Airport 5,991,141

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 13,884,244 13,575,798 -308,446
Dover / Eurotunnel 10,601,370 9,272,981 -1,328,389
East Midlands Airport 5,030,146 3,723,512 -1,306,634
Liverpool Docks 3,910,671 2,733,633 -1,177,038
London Heathrow Airport 3,217,870 2,773,271 -444,599
000 2,033,206 1,663,409 -369,797
London Gateway Port 2,250,777 1,091,471 -1,159,306
Southampton 1,594,061 1,206,574 -387,487
Immingham Docks 1,426,931 963,854 -463,077
ZLC 1,401,954 924,543 -477,411

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