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 30,213,126
Italy 24,642,070
China 14,453,781
India 14,234,626
Belgium 14,104,488

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 17,047,586 13,165,540 -3,882,046
Italy 12,368,073 12,273,997 -94,076
China 7,598,832 6,854,949 -743,883
India 7,496,970 6,737,656 -759,314
Belgium 6,222,616 7,881,872 +1,659,256
Netherlands 5,685,741 6,656,924 +971,183
Bulgaria 5,772,263 6,114,796 +342,533
Germany 4,233,236 2,427,191 -1,806,045
Turkey 2,971,267 2,759,107 -212,160
Poland 1,642,803 1,698,087 +55,284

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 32,669,331
Italy 24,984,301
China 16,207,387
India 14,257,751
Bulgaria 12,343,615

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 17,198,800 15,470,531 -1,728,269
Italy 12,490,727 12,493,574 +2,847
China 8,279,559 7,927,828 -351,731
India 7,525,018 6,732,733 -792,285
Bulgaria 6,080,859 6,262,756 +181,897
Turkey 4,361,002 4,892,010 +531,008
Germany 4,833,175 3,685,930 -1,147,245
France 3,575,870 3,187,294 -388,576
Netherlands 3,305,559 3,307,662 +2,103
Poland 1,683,899 1,942,387 +258,488

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 42
Greater Manchester 27
Surrey, East and West Sussex 19
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 18
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 17

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 33 29 -4
Greater Manchester 17 20 +3
Surrey, East and West Sussex 11 14 +3
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 13 12 -1
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 13 13 +0
West Yorkshire 13 11 -2
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 12 8 -4
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 10 10 +0
West Midlands 12 12 +0
Outer London - West and North West 9 6 -3

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) 90,826,517
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 49,748,910
Other 5,487,342
Air transport 4,346,154
Road transport 900,184

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) 48,279,381 42,547,136 -5,732,245
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 23,746,381 26,002,529 +2,256,148
Other 4,703,037 784,305 -3,918,732
Air transport 2,709,767 1,636,387 -1,073,380
Road transport 152,479 747,705 +595,226

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 44,527,672
London 28,007,755
Felixstowe 19,344,292
London Gateway Port 9,319,087
Southampton 6,384,121

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 22,649,283 21,878,389 -770,894
London 13,508,876 14,498,879 +990,003
Felixstowe 13,126,482 6,217,810 -6,908,672
London Gateway Port 2,411,190 6,907,897 +4,496,707
Southampton 3,663,867 2,720,254 -943,613
000 4,703,037 784,305 -3,918,732
Liverpool Docks 2,644,405 2,550,156 -94,249
Immingham Docks 2,625,336 2,383,835 -241,501
Killingholme 2,336,394 2,640,459 +304,065
499 12,311 3,636,035 +3,623,724

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
130
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
81
Other manufacturing
35
Manufacture of textiles
13
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities
13

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 70
2026-04 75
2026-03 69
2026-02 59
2026-01 67

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 123
54m+ 113
15m-54m 49
0-1m 39
Other 26

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 £
Japan 19,468,828
Germany 16,938,698
China 16,574,623
Denmark 8,358,230
Ireland 5,810,420

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 £
Japan 5,355,747 14,113,081 +8,757,334
Germany 8,773,742 8,164,956 -608,786
China 15,391,616 1,183,007 -14,208,609
Denmark 4,244,913 4,113,317 -131,596
Ireland 2,969,240 2,841,180 -128,060
Netherlands 4,111,574 740,688 -3,370,886
United States 2,349,069 1,574,095 -774,974
Italy 1,462,128 1,476,237 +14,109
France 1,250,951 1,047,592 -203,359
Austria 942,841 989,923 +47,082

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 447,107
Italy 32,772
Ireland 16,051
India 14,094
China 12,878

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 262,998 184,109 -78,889
Italy 20,794 11,978 -8,816
Ireland 11,137 4,914 -6,223
India 2,585 11,509 +8,924
China 10,883 1,995 -8,888
Austria 4,664 3,873 -791
Switzerland 2,197 4,174 +1,977
XI 2,687 3,569 +882
Germany 648 3,070 +2,422
Portugal 1,411 1,384 -27

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) 53,220,334
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 42,767,444
Air transport 1,679,845
Other 779,075

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) 33,501,273 19,719,061 -13,782,212
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 22,156,087 20,611,357 -1,544,730
Air transport 977,379 702,466 -274,913
Other 447,802 331,273 -116,529

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Immingham Docks 23,038,658
Felixstowe 20,172,638
Southampton 19,032,671
Dover / Eurotunnel 12,949,911
London Gateway Port 7,949,346

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 £
Immingham Docks 11,832,731 11,205,927 -626,804
Felixstowe 16,296,386 3,876,252 -12,420,134
Southampton 5,546,559 13,486,112 +7,939,553
Dover / Eurotunnel 6,684,789 6,265,122 -419,667
London Gateway Port 6,428,185 1,521,161 -4,907,024
London 4,181,246 35,256 -4,145,990
Holyhead 1,731,457 2,013,558 +282,101
Dover 851,035 731,493 -119,542
Liverpool Docks 814,229 480,137 -334,092
London Heathrow Airport 546,895 326,668 -220,227

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