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 34,198,925
Italy 25,740,677
Belgium 14,907,275
India 14,829,319
China 14,743,948

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 19,298,931 14,899,994 -4,398,937
Italy 12,198,744 13,541,933 +1,343,189
Belgium 6,361,664 8,545,611 +2,183,947
India 7,260,305 7,569,014 +308,709
China 7,092,707 7,651,241 +558,534
Netherlands 5,147,343 7,314,278 +2,166,935
Bulgaria 5,481,338 6,475,539 +994,201
Germany 4,452,064 2,849,197 -1,602,867
Turkey 2,991,034 3,119,637 +128,603
Poland 2,072,320 1,683,075 -389,245

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 36,289,478
Italy 26,320,888
China 16,405,991
India 14,897,520
Bulgaria 12,463,989

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 18,637,019 17,652,459 -984,560
Italy 12,555,253 13,765,635 +1,210,382
China 7,792,887 8,613,104 +820,217
India 7,350,143 7,547,377 +197,234
Bulgaria 5,840,490 6,623,499 +783,009
Turkey 4,285,433 5,224,940 +939,507
Germany 4,951,600 4,404,474 -547,126
France 3,757,394 3,597,277 -160,117
Netherlands 3,168,698 3,521,009 +352,311
Poland 2,181,601 1,882,609 -298,992

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 25
Surrey, East and West Sussex 19
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 18
West Yorkshire 18

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 16 19 +3
Surrey, East and West Sussex 11 14 +3
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 11 14 +3
West Yorkshire 15 10 -5
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 13 9 -4
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 10 13 +3
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 10 11 +1
West Midlands 13 13 +0
Outer London - West and North West 8 6 -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) 98,917,407
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 51,712,368
Other 6,041,434
Air transport 4,574,056
Road transport 847,289

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) 51,832,208 47,085,199 -4,747,009
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 23,794,020 27,918,348 +4,124,328
Other 4,514,205 1,527,229 -2,986,976
Air transport 2,574,510 1,999,546 -574,964
Road transport 170,546 676,743 +506,197

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 48,754,324
London 28,576,021
Felixstowe 21,610,677
London Gateway Port 8,638,483
Southampton 6,767,641

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 24,884,823 23,869,501 -1,015,322
London 13,065,986 15,510,035 +2,444,049
Felixstowe 13,987,741 7,622,936 -6,364,805
London Gateway Port 1,355,857 7,282,626 +5,926,769
Southampton 3,534,724 3,232,917 -301,807
000 4,514,205 1,527,229 -2,986,976
Immingham Docks 3,487,817 2,535,566 -952,251
Killingholme 2,699,491 3,163,512 +464,021
Liverpool Docks 2,623,729 2,726,850 +103,121
Middlesbrough 1,726,810 1,832,019 +105,209

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 134
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 81
Other manufacturing 34
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 15
Manufacture of textiles 13

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-04 75
2026-03 69
2026-02 59
2026-01 67
2025-12 59

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 131
54m+ 109
15m-54m 48
0-1m 40
Other 29

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 20,494,157
Germany 17,826,416
China 16,849,059
Denmark 8,559,358
Netherlands 6,981,381

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 5,983,596 14,510,561 +8,526,965
Germany 9,240,619 8,585,797 -654,822
China 11,085,707 5,763,352 -5,322,355
Denmark 4,088,618 4,470,740 +382,122
Netherlands 6,171,308 810,073 -5,361,235
Ireland 2,885,638 3,078,551 +192,913
United States 2,149,136 1,889,423 -259,713
Italy 1,445,619 1,570,857 +125,238
France 1,201,468 1,242,791 +41,323
Finland 2,058,413 25,723 -2,032,690

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 466,531
Italy 37,425
Ireland 15,227
India 14,094
China 13,319

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 277,755 188,776 -88,979
Italy 24,102 13,323 -10,779
Ireland 618 14,609 +13,991
India 2,585 11,509 +8,924
China 11,068 2,251 -8,817
Austria 4,564 4,472 -92
Switzerland 2,484 4,272 +1,788
XI 2,525 2,634 +109
Germany 247 3,169 +2,922
Portugal 1,408 1,438 +30

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) 56,220,680
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 44,629,707
Air transport 1,703,354
Other 837,135

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) 29,418,895 26,801,785 -2,617,110
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 22,468,724 22,160,983 -307,741
Air transport 942,416 760,938 -181,478
Other 479,680 357,455 -122,225

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Immingham Docks 23,563,768
Felixstowe 23,558,240
Southampton 18,685,595
Dover / Eurotunnel 13,607,003
London Gateway Port 7,694,766

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 11,874,445 11,689,323 -185,122
Felixstowe 14,660,186 8,898,054 -5,762,132
Southampton 5,612,027 13,073,568 +7,461,541
Dover / Eurotunnel 6,586,542 7,020,461 +433,919
London Gateway Port 3,682,399 4,012,367 +329,968
London 4,828,652 42,738 -4,785,914
Holyhead 1,653,893 2,167,273 +513,380
Dover 781,503 763,509 -17,994
Liverpool Docks 881,977 495,521 -386,456
London Heathrow Airport 495,291 401,213 -94,078

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