Import/export HS code 4821: Paper or cardboard labels

Labels of all types, whether printed or blank, made from paper or cardboard

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 47,555,347
Germany 46,931,051
Italy 28,998,457
Ireland 25,465,860
Netherlands 23,076,845

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 26,390,770 21,164,577 -5,226,193
Germany 25,110,687 21,820,364 -3,290,323
Italy 16,798,827 12,199,630 -4,599,197
Ireland 13,506,067 11,959,793 -1,546,274
Netherlands 12,587,186 10,489,659 -2,097,527
France 9,428,734 6,251,113 -3,177,621
United States 9,215,945 6,264,664 -2,951,281
Poland 5,159,560 6,075,029 +915,469
Belgium 6,358,751 2,862,647 -3,496,104
Spain 3,643,255 2,871,103 -772,152

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 51,541,692
Germany 42,392,870
Italy 26,026,639
United States 17,671,589
Poland 12,418,449

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 28,514,697 23,026,995 -5,487,702
Germany 23,066,438 19,326,432 -3,740,006
Italy 15,113,091 10,913,548 -4,199,543
United States 10,313,303 7,358,286 -2,955,017
Poland 5,743,182 6,675,267 +932,085
France 6,694,938 5,347,190 -1,347,748
Ireland 6,007,707 6,032,821 +25,114
Netherlands 6,542,826 5,258,144 -1,284,682
Spain 4,005,316 3,000,330 -1,004,986
Belgium 2,997,526 2,463,848 -533,678

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 278
Greater Manchester 166
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 156
Outer London - West and North West 118
Surrey, East and West Sussex 105

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 197 182 -15
Greater Manchester 101 122 +21
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 117 111 -6
Outer London - West and North West 80 69 -11
Surrey, East and West Sussex 76 66 -10
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 71 73 +2
West Midlands 67 54 -13
Inner London - East 57 58 +1
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 67 57 -10
West Yorkshire 55 53 -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) 89,978,723
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 73,422,139
Air transport 59,386,675
Other 34,582,540
Road transport 516,797

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) 48,315,621 41,663,102 -6,652,519
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 41,217,857 32,204,282 -9,013,575
Air transport 33,873,658 25,513,017 -8,360,641
Other 19,797,748 14,784,792 -5,012,956
Road transport 318,118 198,679 -119,439
Rail transport 5,417 0 -5,417

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 40,184,858
000 34,582,540
Felixstowe 34,319,239
Eurotunnel 18,744,294
London Heathrow Airport 15,242,902

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 21,452,818 18,732,040 -2,720,778
000 19,797,748 14,784,792 -5,012,956
Felixstowe 18,597,920 15,721,319 -2,876,601
Eurotunnel 9,907,639 8,836,655 -1,070,984
London Heathrow Airport 7,739,775 7,503,127 -236,648
East Midlands Airport 7,948,830 7,102,271 -846,559
Southampton 8,557,814 5,984,084 -2,573,730
Birmingham Airport 8,119,881 4,424,646 -3,695,235
Immingham Docks 6,149,800 5,392,192 -757,608
London Stansted Airport 5,725,776 2,883,755 -2,842,021

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 691
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 485
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 137
Other manufacturing 127
Manufacture of food products 86

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 367
2025-11 402
2025-10 463
2025-09 425
2025-08 389

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
54m+ 866
1m-15m 804
15m-54m 283
0-1m 268
Other 207

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 40,645,580
Belgium 23,868,612
France 18,818,805
Netherlands 15,114,973
Pakistan 11,922,389

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 20,583,711 20,061,869 -521,842
Belgium 13,950,435 9,918,177 -4,032,258
France 7,595,387 11,223,418 +3,628,031
Netherlands 8,668,101 6,446,872 -2,221,229
Pakistan 7,472,900 4,449,489 -3,023,411
Germany 7,272,425 4,369,003 -2,903,422
United States 4,326,746 5,031,784 +705,038
Italy 3,746,245 3,887,479 +141,234
Spain 3,400,596 3,849,220 +448,624
Poland 3,314,915 2,079,291 -1,235,624

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 £
Ireland 7,199,085
XI 3,899,380
Hungary 262,218
Lithuania 69,832
France 59,765

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 £
Ireland 3,890,591 3,308,494 -582,097
XI 2,134,041 1,765,339 -368,702
Hungary 160,869 101,349 -59,520
Lithuania 0 69,832 +69,832
France 24,804 34,961 +10,157
Austria 31,254 17,753 -13,501
Nicaragua 1,015 29,800 +28,785
China 19,981 5,088 -14,893
Germany 4,403 12,019 +7,616
Italy 4,821 3,873 -948

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) 108,346,742
Air transport 42,913,278
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 37,411,703
Other 14,018,282
Road transport 119,724

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) 57,904,129 50,442,613 -7,461,516
Air transport 20,547,061 22,366,217 +1,819,156
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 20,407,341 17,004,362 -3,402,979
Other 7,605,106 6,413,176 -1,191,930
Road transport 117,674 2,050 -115,624
Rail transport 1,888 0 -1,888

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 64,574,396
East Midlands Airport 22,256,988
London Gateway Port 19,327,482
000 14,018,282
Holyhead 12,612,905

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 36,716,730 27,857,666 -8,859,064
East Midlands Airport 9,871,426 12,385,562 +2,514,136
London Gateway Port 11,566,567 7,760,915 -3,805,652
000 7,605,106 6,413,176 -1,191,930
Holyhead 5,831,176 6,781,729 +950,553
Immingham Docks 6,130,694 5,209,056 -921,638
London Heathrow Airport 5,230,701 4,781,189 -449,512
Liverpool Docks 5,348,673 3,974,392 -1,374,281
Portsmouth 3,460,409 5,120,873 +1,660,464
ZLC 2,973,382 3,281,301 +307,919

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 4821

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

Description: Labels of all types, whether printed or blank, made from paper or cardboard