Import/export HS code 731010: Medium-sized steel or iron containers

Iron or steel containers like drums or cans that hold 50 liters or more. Used for storing liquids or solids in smaller quantities

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 32,051,005
Spain 9,038,598
Italy 8,725,655
Ireland 7,281,031
Portugal 6,648,041

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 13,724,905 18,326,100 +4,601,195
Spain 5,332,408 3,706,190 -1,626,218
Italy 4,655,918 4,069,737 -586,181
Ireland 2,666,467 4,614,564 +1,948,097
Portugal 1,898,620 4,749,421 +2,850,801
Poland 2,620,558 3,208,650 +588,092
China 2,474,801 2,648,222 +173,421
Lithuania 1,549,712 2,321,478 +771,766
Netherlands 1,811,297 1,275,237 -536,060
France 1,220,010 1,378,682 +158,672

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 30,602,881
Spain 8,923,306
Italy 8,778,886
Portugal 6,729,554
Ireland 6,544,955

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 12,567,417 18,035,464 +5,468,047
Spain 5,180,604 3,742,702 -1,437,902
Italy 4,613,643 4,165,243 -448,400
Portugal 1,913,251 4,816,303 +2,903,052
Ireland 2,331,278 4,213,677 +1,882,399
Poland 2,549,854 3,366,593 +816,739
China 2,573,438 2,612,344 +38,906
France 1,498,308 2,678,038 +1,179,730
Lithuania 1,525,916 2,261,225 +735,309
Netherlands 2,538,236 917,669 -1,620,567

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 33
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 29
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 27
Greater Manchester 26
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 25

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
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 19 20 +1
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 20 17 -3
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 19 18 -1
Greater Manchester 15 20 +5
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 15 16 +1
Shropshire and Staffordshire 22 16 -6
West Yorkshire 14 14 +0
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 17 11 -6
Inner London - West 12 13 +1
Surrey, East and West Sussex 12 14 +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) 63,816,439
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 25,155,845
Air transport 5,617,171
Road transport 1,983,878
Other 615,191

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) 28,952,603 34,863,836 +5,911,233
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 10,725,581 14,430,264 +3,704,683
Air transport 2,832,846 2,784,325 -48,521
Road transport 1,140,794 843,084 -297,710
Other 255,591 359,600 +104,009

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 17,422,928
Immingham Docks 17,143,016
Felixstowe 12,715,992
Eurotunnel 8,358,620
Liverpool Docks 6,811,825

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 8,222,855 9,200,073 +977,218
Immingham Docks 6,609,258 10,533,758 +3,924,500
Felixstowe 4,781,574 7,934,418 +3,152,844
Eurotunnel 5,259,517 3,099,103 -2,160,414
Liverpool Docks 3,190,149 3,621,676 +431,527
Southampton 779,418 4,140,930 +3,361,512
London 1,918,967 1,763,716 -155,251
Birmingham Airport 1,701,505 1,834,011 +132,506
Harwich 883,139 1,787,178 +904,039
Purfleet 2,434,901 82,334 -2,352,567

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
109
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c.
47
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products
42
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
35
Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment
33

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 95
2026-04 81
2026-03 85
2026-02 95
2026-01 74

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
54m+ 205
1m-15m 167
15m-54m 72
0-1m 46
Other 38

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 £
Netherlands 43,233,876
Italy 36,083,944
Ireland 10,649,322
Turkey 7,425,642
Germany 6,420,731

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 £
Netherlands 20,972,041 22,261,835 +1,289,794
Italy 18,999,033 17,084,911 -1,914,122
Ireland 5,751,721 4,897,601 -854,120
Turkey 6,751,010 674,632 -6,076,378
Germany 3,212,418 3,208,313 -4,105
United States 3,111,547 1,074,429 -2,037,118
Australia 120,008 2,972,134 +2,852,126
France 1,077,874 749,811 -328,063
Denmark 1,141,749 631,183 -510,566
Spain 841,892 738,440 -103,452

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 £
Italy 170,774
France 71,184
XI 21,089
China 16,250
Germany 12,768

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 £
Italy 156,139 14,635 -141,504
France 66,776 4,408 -62,368
XI 17,521 3,568 -13,953
China 7,747 8,503 +756
Germany 7,302 5,466 -1,836
Poland 194 4,257 +4,063
Spain 2,555 267 -2,288
Ireland 1,317 846 -471
Turkey 523 1,411 +888
Austria 1,383 0 -1,383

Export volume by transport

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

Top 5 values

Transport £
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 91,632,002
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 27,948,912
Air transport 2,916,389
Other 376,830

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 £
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 47,181,064 44,450,938 -2,730,126
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 16,686,285 11,262,627 -5,423,658
Air transport 1,253,493 1,662,896 +409,403
Other 307,950 68,880 -239,070

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London 51,122,277
Hull 10,146,773
Immingham Docks 8,263,056
London Gateway Port 7,953,815
Dover / Eurotunnel 7,620,012

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 £
London 25,646,325 25,475,952 -170,373
Hull 6,037,180 4,109,593 -1,927,587
Immingham Docks 3,182,821 5,080,235 +1,897,414
London Gateway Port 2,751,299 5,202,516 +2,451,217
Dover / Eurotunnel 4,120,589 3,499,423 -621,166
Grangemouth Docks 3,666,467 3,690,147 +23,680
Middlesbrough 5,981,867 639,370 -5,342,497
Liverpool Docks 4,369,076 2,056,641 -2,312,435
Heysham 1,936,553 1,839,640 -96,913
Holyhead 1,826,607 1,318,805 -507,802

Quick facts

HS code: 731010

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

Description: Iron or steel containers like drums or cans that hold 50 liters or more. Used for storing liquids or solids in smaller quantities