Import/export HS code 5601: Textile wadding and short fiber materials

Covers textile wadding, short fibers (up to 5mm), textile dust, and mill neps, including products made from them

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 £
France 32,576,807
Italy 22,741,000
India 14,128,090
China 13,843,295
Belgium 13,153,274

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 £
France 20,554,445 12,022,362 -8,532,083
Italy 11,502,478 11,238,522 -263,956
India 7,507,380 6,620,710 -886,670
China 7,027,931 6,815,364 -212,567
Belgium 6,942,903 6,210,371 -732,532
Bulgaria 5,418,854 5,085,485 -333,369
Netherlands 4,764,634 5,031,404 +266,770
Germany 4,566,192 2,489,066 -2,077,126
Turkey 2,896,832 2,849,811 -47,021
Poland 1,838,751 1,615,586 -223,165

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 £
Austria 32,934,072
Italy 23,277,184
China 15,050,688
India 14,235,512
Bulgaria 10,942,958

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 £
Austria 19,267,456 13,666,616 -5,600,840
Italy 11,827,021 11,450,163 -376,858
China 7,781,183 7,269,505 -511,678
India 7,608,861 6,626,651 -982,210
Bulgaria 5,731,786 5,211,172 -520,614
Germany 5,162,106 3,946,441 -1,215,665
Turkey 4,137,078 3,908,880 -228,198
France 4,029,280 2,869,144 -1,160,136
Netherlands 3,114,300 2,832,162 -282,138
Poland 1,987,339 1,731,385 -255,954

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 38
Greater Manchester 22
Surrey, East and West Sussex 18
West Yorkshire 18
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 15

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 31 23 -8
Greater Manchester 15 16 +1
Surrey, East and West Sussex 12 13 +1
West Yorkshire 15 10 -5
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 12 11 -1
West Midlands 13 13 +0
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 11 10 -1
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 11 10 -1
Outer London - West and North West 7 8 +1
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 10 11 +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) 91,990,916
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 47,134,887
Other 6,390,334
Air transport 4,470,867
Road transport 544,313

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) 53,431,755 38,559,161 -14,872,594
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 24,809,336 22,325,551 -2,483,785
Other 4,201,105 2,189,229 -2,011,876
Air transport 2,402,347 2,068,520 -333,827
Road transport 163,690 380,623 +216,933

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 44,643,773
London 24,356,133
Felixstowe 22,457,947
London Gateway Port 7,052,394
Southampton 6,833,030

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 26,497,122 18,146,651 -8,350,471
London 11,748,853 12,607,280 +858,427
Felixstowe 14,744,505 7,713,442 -7,031,063
London Gateway Port 927,004 6,125,390 +5,198,386
Southampton 3,886,809 2,946,221 -940,588
000 4,201,105 2,189,229 -2,011,876
Immingham Docks 3,799,945 1,781,362 -2,018,583
Killingholme 2,529,626 2,675,599 +145,973
Liverpool Docks 2,545,670 2,447,464 -98,206
Eurotunnel 3,661,017 462,889 -3,198,128

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 123
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 75
Other manufacturing 30
Manufacture of textiles 13
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 12

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 67
2025-11 69
2025-10 79
2025-09 63
2025-08 66

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 126
54m+ 100
15m-54m 46
0-1m 40
Other 27

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 £
China 16,759,060
Germany 16,672,600
Japan 10,605,923
Netherlands 8,546,961
Denmark 7,899,124

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 £
China 5,908,093 10,850,967 +4,942,874
Germany 9,287,912 7,384,688 -1,903,224
Japan 5,567,910 5,038,013 -529,897
Netherlands 7,762,993 783,968 -6,979,025
Denmark 3,989,268 3,909,856 -79,412
Ireland 2,884,077 2,448,948 -435,129
United States 1,548,697 1,899,380 +350,683
Italy 1,286,993 1,417,272 +130,279
Finland 2,285,840 20,422 -2,265,418
France 1,151,595 1,150,677 -918

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 £
France 431,638
Italy 39,807
China 18,066
Ireland 13,434
Austria 9,453

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 £
France 252,627 179,011 -73,616
Italy 25,928 13,879 -12,049
China 14,548 3,518 -11,030
Ireland 6 13,428 +13,422
Austria 5,533 3,920 -1,613
Switzerland 2,985 2,271 -714
XI 2,473 2,677 +204
Turkey 2,717 0 -2,717
India 2,585 0 -2,585
Portugal 1,636 656 -980

Export volume by transport

What this shows: Export value by transport mode used to ship goods from the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 48,513,299
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 39,149,326
Air transport 1,721,981
Other 793,460
Road transport 13,735

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 £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 25,744,259 22,769,040 -2,975,219
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 20,496,866 18,652,460 -1,844,406
Air transport 911,198 810,783 -100,415
Other 477,239 316,221 -161,018
Road transport 13,735 0 -13,735

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Felixstowe 24,776,721
Immingham Docks 21,808,939
Dover / Eurotunnel 12,169,415
Southampton 8,256,212
London Gateway Port 7,197,021

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 £
Felixstowe 11,691,000 13,085,721 +1,394,721
Immingham Docks 11,732,077 10,076,862 -1,655,215
Dover / Eurotunnel 6,317,932 5,851,483 -466,449
Southampton 5,081,722 3,174,490 -1,907,232
London Gateway Port 1,346,018 5,851,003 +4,504,985
London 5,061,339 43,473 -5,017,866
Holyhead 1,644,383 1,709,371 +64,988
Dover 892,177 523,815 -368,362
Liverpool Docks 910,181 385,879 -524,302
London Heathrow Airport 453,258 527,614 +74,356

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 5601

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

Description: Covers textile wadding, short fibers (up to 5mm), textile dust, and mill neps, including products made from them