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 119,524,598
Turkey 98,544,479
Luxembourg 96,148,431
China 80,131,028
Spain 55,237,752

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 63,587,843 55,936,755 -7,651,088
Turkey 52,403,053 46,141,426 -6,261,627
Luxembourg 55,532,893 40,615,538 -14,917,355
China 45,149,406 34,981,622 -10,167,784
Spain 29,748,582 25,489,170 -4,259,412
Netherlands 25,872,921 20,506,092 -5,366,829
Italy 23,929,310 19,334,833 -4,594,477
Belgium 19,627,563 22,176,661 +2,549,098
United States 21,661,465 16,236,185 -5,425,280
France 19,933,619 16,019,947 -3,913,672

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 132,395,895
Turkey 99,416,047
China 93,214,386
United States 62,891,759
Spain 57,895,379

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 72,000,852 60,395,043 -11,605,809
Turkey 52,729,898 46,686,149 -6,043,749
China 52,427,709 40,786,677 -11,641,032
United States 36,857,126 26,034,633 -10,822,493
Spain 30,058,812 27,836,567 -2,222,245
Italy 24,925,029 20,204,174 -4,720,855
Poland 15,037,524 16,741,663 +1,704,139
Luxembourg 15,702,380 15,071,106 -631,274
Belgium 13,566,337 11,534,882 -2,031,455
India 14,103,061 10,272,518 -3,830,543

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Greater Manchester 108
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 89
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 86
Inner London - West 86
West Yorkshire 85

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 86 91 +5
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 66 72 +6
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 67 59 -8
Inner London - West 69 60 -9
West Yorkshire 73 68 -5
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 49 47 -2
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 45 37 -8
West Midlands 48 43 -5
Surrey, East and West Sussex 50 40 -10
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 41 36 -5

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) 417,016,009
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 312,467,598
Other 73,035,527
Air transport 33,137,221
Road transport 4,111,532

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) 226,278,400 190,737,609 -35,540,791
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 171,188,827 141,278,771 -29,910,056
Other 43,152,326 29,883,201 -13,269,125
Air transport 18,053,333 15,083,888 -2,969,445
Road transport 986,787 3,124,745 +2,137,958
Rail transport 5,435 56,604 +51,169

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 153,767,185
Felixstowe 116,102,148
London Gateway Port 93,717,457
Immingham Docks 89,152,660
000 73,035,527

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 85,852,820 67,914,365 -17,938,455
Felixstowe 73,799,725 42,302,423 -31,497,302
London Gateway Port 42,414,505 51,302,952 +8,888,447
Immingham Docks 42,162,988 46,989,672 +4,826,684
000 43,152,326 29,883,201 -13,269,125
Liverpool Docks 21,429,076 19,136,296 -2,292,780
Purfleet 17,942,870 18,604,220 +661,350
Southampton 20,606,534 14,946,158 -5,660,376
London 15,001,557 15,428,048 +426,491
Killingholme 17,224,721 10,855,781 -6,368,940

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
450
Other manufacturing
191
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
161
Manufacture of textiles
99
Manufacture of rubber and plastic products
75

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 415
2026-04 426
2026-03 438
2026-02 444
2026-01 403

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 691
54m+ 393
15m-54m 202
0-1m 163
Other 96

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 55,484,222
China 29,796,451
Ireland 27,105,082
Germany 26,857,156
Sweden 25,133,457

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 28,568,437 26,915,785 -1,652,652
China 16,663,345 13,133,106 -3,530,239
Ireland 14,929,521 12,175,561 -2,753,960
Germany 15,353,443 11,503,713 -3,849,730
Sweden 15,175,158 9,958,299 -5,216,859
France 10,453,398 10,005,372 -448,026
Poland 7,172,090 5,502,081 -1,670,009
Italy 6,178,875 5,634,973 -543,902
Malaysia 10,634,440 572,188 -10,062,252
Kyrgyzstan 1,636,156 8,583,011 +6,946,855

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 £
XI 20,125,570
Luxembourg 12,694,582
United States 1,248,280
Hungary 299,929
Czechia 244,344

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 £
XI 4,879,514 15,246,056 +10,366,542
Luxembourg 10,585,971 2,108,611 -8,477,360
United States 1,090,255 158,025 -932,230
Hungary 174,105 125,824 -48,281
Czechia 117,749 126,595 +8,846
Greece 85,877 79,270 -6,607
Germany 48,087 44,189 -3,898
China 20,989 21,938 +949
Netherlands 14,695 21,269 +6,574
Belgium 11,630 17,657 +6,027

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) 152,287,745
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 125,462,203
Other 40,193,350
Air transport 36,045,824

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) 89,492,746 62,794,999 -26,697,747
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 68,760,300 56,701,903 -12,058,397
Other 20,426,217 19,767,133 -659,084
Air transport 15,208,811 20,837,013 +5,628,202

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 57,609,793
Southampton 48,037,186
000 40,193,350
Immingham Docks 38,816,054
London Gateway Port 31,874,288

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 31,468,448 26,141,345 -5,327,103
Southampton 22,971,777 25,065,409 +2,093,632
000 20,426,217 19,767,133 -659,084
Immingham Docks 23,068,325 15,747,729 -7,320,596
London Gateway Port 21,408,225 10,466,063 -10,942,162
London Heathrow Airport 11,870,149 17,055,246 +5,185,097
Belfast Port 20,238,342 5,444,060 -14,794,282
Felixstowe 8,054,226 4,245,865 -3,808,361
Liverpool Docks 7,420,704 4,806,290 -2,614,414
London 2,449,227 8,349,457 +5,900,230

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