Import/export HS code 5603: Nonwoven materials

Nonwoven fabrics, which may be treated, coated, or layered, used in industries like healthcare and packaging

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 £
Germany 126,289,788
Turkey 96,620,653
Luxembourg 90,002,732
China 79,862,369
Spain 51,981,894

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 £
Germany 73,241,400 53,048,388 -20,193,012
Turkey 49,527,768 47,092,885 -2,434,883
Luxembourg 48,001,301 42,001,431 -5,999,870
China 46,637,189 33,225,180 -13,412,009
Spain 23,296,746 28,685,148 +5,388,402
Italy 23,879,019 19,468,535 -4,410,484
Netherlands 19,984,688 22,721,316 +2,736,628
United States 21,962,201 17,251,888 -4,710,313
Belgium 17,188,638 20,687,299 +3,498,661
France 19,842,628 16,505,499 -3,337,129

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 £
Germany 135,737,581
Turkey 97,013,287
China 92,643,725
United States 65,818,233
Spain 52,467,876

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 £
Germany 75,759,905 59,977,676 -15,782,229
Turkey 49,812,282 47,201,005 -2,611,277
China 52,866,216 39,777,509 -13,088,707
United States 37,816,845 28,001,388 -9,815,457
Spain 23,397,174 29,070,702 +5,673,528
Italy 24,861,545 19,939,145 -4,922,400
Luxembourg 15,008,305 14,695,456 -312,849
Poland 14,015,656 14,638,012 +622,356
Belgium 13,543,684 10,867,405 -2,676,279
India 12,742,210 11,127,927 -1,614,283

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Greater Manchester 111
Inner London - West 94
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 88
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 88
West Yorkshire 87

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
Greater Manchester 90 89 -1
Inner London - West 66 67 +1
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 70 61 -9
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 65 72 +7
West Yorkshire 72 70 -2
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 47 49 +2
Surrey, East and West Sussex 48 43 -5
West Midlands 42 43 +1
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 46 41 -5
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 38 45 +7

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) 413,212,621
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 312,634,590
Other 67,878,398
Air transport 32,734,562
Road transport 3,087,640

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) 224,482,861 188,729,760 -35,753,101
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 167,021,887 145,612,703 -21,409,184
Other 35,734,291 32,144,107 -3,590,184
Air transport 17,759,723 14,974,839 -2,784,884
Road transport 1,019,315 2,068,325 +1,049,010
Rail transport 12,088 5,435 -6,653

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 156,183,355
Felixstowe 120,311,387
London Gateway Port 88,320,881
Immingham Docks 81,884,247
000 67,878,398

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 86,464,892 69,718,463 -16,746,429
Felixstowe 66,814,282 53,497,105 -13,317,177
London Gateway Port 43,511,352 44,809,529 +1,298,177
Immingham Docks 41,468,684 40,415,563 -1,053,121
000 35,734,291 32,144,107 -3,590,184
Liverpool Docks 22,171,439 15,586,252 -6,585,187
Southampton 20,953,146 16,533,839 -4,419,307
Purfleet 15,140,000 16,426,221 +1,286,221
Killingholme 18,280,042 12,474,051 -5,805,991
Hull 13,709,240 12,361,560 -1,347,680

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 449
Other manufacturing 185
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 166
Manufacture of textiles 101
Manufacture of rubber and plastic products 80

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 403
2025-11 419
2025-10 441
2025-09 417
2025-08 427

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 697
54m+ 406
15m-54m 192
0-1m 170
Other 99

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 £
United States 52,447,010
China 30,627,908
Germany 29,836,056
Ireland 28,272,879
Sweden 23,871,021

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 £
United States 24,688,384 27,758,626 +3,070,242
China 17,264,723 13,363,185 -3,901,538
Germany 16,831,731 13,004,325 -3,827,406
Ireland 15,850,653 12,422,226 -3,428,427
Sweden 13,212,328 10,658,693 -2,553,635
France 10,326,024 10,535,766 +209,742
Malaysia 14,077,110 1,141,261 -12,935,849
Poland 6,660,147 6,336,120 -324,027
Italy 5,930,573 5,746,298 -184,275
Netherlands 4,277,993 4,031,394 -246,599

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 £
Luxembourg 19,509,488
XI 12,544,902
United States 1,109,188
Hungary 309,541
Czechia 247,935

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 £
Luxembourg 13,490,543 6,018,945 -7,471,598
XI 185,473 12,359,429 +12,173,956
United States 937,895 171,293 -766,602
Hungary 158,829 150,712 -8,117
Czechia 127,213 120,722 -6,491
Greece 139,218 72,353 -66,865
Germany 41,447 49,262 +7,815
Ireland 29,992 4,137 -25,855
Netherlands 16,493 14,596 -1,897
China 6,800 23,549 +16,749

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) 156,979,578
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 122,392,940
Other 39,511,330
Air transport 29,411,121
Road transport 139,899

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) 88,768,882 68,210,696 -20,558,186
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 63,808,804 58,584,136 -5,224,668
Other 18,364,093 21,147,237 +2,783,144
Air transport 15,206,933 14,204,188 -1,002,745
Road transport 139,899 0 -139,899
Rail transport 1,233 0 -1,233

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 59,320,572
Southampton 43,856,397
000 39,511,330
Immingham Docks 38,646,859
London Gateway Port 33,067,437

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 32,571,754 26,748,818 -5,822,936
Southampton 19,803,839 24,052,558 +4,248,719
000 18,364,093 21,147,237 +2,783,144
Immingham Docks 21,408,644 17,238,215 -4,170,429
London Gateway Port 16,043,946 17,023,491 +979,545
Belfast Port 22,373,082 7,978,534 -14,394,548
London Heathrow Airport 12,582,928 10,912,219 -1,670,709
Felixstowe 10,232,844 4,472,467 -5,760,377
Liverpool Docks 7,885,807 4,876,965 -3,008,842
Holyhead 4,246,030 3,349,545 -896,485

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 5603

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

Description: Nonwoven fabrics, which may be treated, coated, or layered, used in industries like healthcare and packaging