Import/export HS code 731021: Steel or iron cans for sealing

Iron or steel cans designed to be sealed by soldering or crimping. Commonly used for packaging food or drinks

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 £
Turkey 50,288,049
China 33,500,606
Netherlands 16,254,698
Ireland 13,700,659
Germany 11,944,679

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 £
Turkey 24,153,836 26,134,213 +1,980,377
China 16,738,731 16,761,875 +23,144
Netherlands 7,163,245 9,091,453 +1,928,208
Ireland 6,120,107 7,580,552 +1,460,445
Germany 5,579,116 6,365,563 +786,447
Denmark 4,107,358 3,439,647 -667,711
Spain 3,601,372 1,592,015 -2,009,357
France 2,767,814 2,295,776 -472,038
Italy 1,369,442 1,523,129 +153,687
Poland 1,196,485 1,132,870 -63,615

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 £
Turkey 51,112,857
China 34,066,087
Netherlands 15,086,845
Ireland 13,620,952
Germany 12,347,224

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 £
Turkey 24,243,140 26,869,717 +2,626,577
China 17,030,574 17,035,513 +4,939
Netherlands 6,800,896 8,285,949 +1,485,053
Ireland 6,078,991 7,541,961 +1,462,970
Germany 5,830,887 6,516,337 +685,450
Denmark 4,107,358 3,440,220 -667,138
Spain 3,607,391 1,522,757 -2,084,634
France 2,262,466 1,672,206 -590,260
Italy 1,692,140 1,714,347 +22,207
Poland 1,199,293 1,173,322 -25,971

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Greater Manchester 20
Inner London - West 20
Surrey, East and West Sussex 20
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 19
West Yorkshire 14

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 13 13 +0
Inner London - West 12 12 +0
Surrey, East and West Sussex 13 12 -1
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 12 13 +1
West Yorkshire 8 14 +6
Outer London - West and North West 7 11 +4
Shropshire and Staffordshire 11 6 -5
Cheshire 7 7 +0
Inner London - East 6 7 +1
Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 5 8 +3

Import volume by transport

What this shows: Import value by transport mode used to bring goods into the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 89,519,140
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 59,707,361
Road transport 1,757,432
Air transport 1,617,459
Other 318,554

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 £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 43,660,398 45,858,742 +2,198,344
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 29,552,105 30,155,256 +603,151
Road transport 1,023,018 734,414 -288,604
Air transport 662,009 955,450 +293,441
Other 86,872 231,682 +144,810

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Grangemouth Docks 28,268,158
Felixstowe 27,502,248
Immingham Docks 18,394,614
Liverpool Docks 18,317,222
Southampton 15,879,006

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 £
Grangemouth Docks 12,591,533 15,676,625 +3,085,092
Felixstowe 17,490,783 10,011,465 -7,479,318
Immingham Docks 9,595,235 8,799,379 -795,856
Liverpool Docks 6,901,832 11,415,390 +4,513,558
Southampton 6,106,542 9,772,464 +3,665,922
Dover 6,007,671 5,168,685 -838,986
London Gateway Port 1,766,752 4,102,844 +2,336,092
Harwich 1,544,460 1,920,057 +375,597
Eurotunnel 1,860,075 1,532,160 -327,915
Hull 1,549,403 1,672,800 +123,397

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 94
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products 44
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 39
Manufacture of food products 25
Other manufacturing 18

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-04 49
2026-03 62
2026-02 51
2026-01 56
2025-12 58

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 129
54m+ 87
0-1m 40
15m-54m 37
Other 22

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 £
Belgium 43,268,980
France 26,953,983
Ireland 10,087,780
Netherlands 8,275,808
Saudi Arabia 6,400,959

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 £
Belgium 21,818,535 21,450,445 -368,090
France 15,326,107 11,627,876 -3,698,231
Ireland 4,670,308 5,417,472 +747,164
Netherlands 5,698,136 2,577,672 -3,120,464
Saudi Arabia 6,399,459 1,500 -6,397,959
Italy 2,902,596 2,741,995 -160,601
Germany 1,267,029 1,338,922 +71,893
United States 1,883,603 717,154 -1,166,449
Poland 548,662 677,160 +128,498
Czechia 567,875 153,682 -414,193

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 £
China 141,733
XI 39,612
Turkey 7,374
Germany 5,778
France 4,689

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 £
China 62,421 79,312 +16,891
XI 35,263 4,349 -30,914
Turkey 6,993 381 -6,612
Germany 1,462 4,316 +2,854
France 3,891 798 -3,093
Ireland 4,292 266 -4,026
Italy 168 0 -168

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) 99,557,796
Air transport 8,370,102
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 2,917,001
Other 215,239

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) 53,000,901 46,556,895 -6,444,006
Air transport 7,925,741 444,361 -7,481,380
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 1,731,086 1,185,915 -545,171
Other 115,037 100,202 -14,835

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 80,290,530
Heysham 8,664,300
Warton Aerodrome 6,350,669
Immingham Docks 5,243,914
Liverpool Docks 2,065,676

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 42,231,415 38,059,115 -4,172,300
Heysham 3,675,287 4,989,013 +1,313,726
Warton Aerodrome 6,349,169 1,500 -6,347,669
Immingham Docks 3,476,414 1,767,500 -1,708,914
Liverpool Docks 1,213,223 852,453 -360,770
Felixstowe 1,395,334 412,202 -983,132
Harwich 768,185 572,775 -195,410
Dover 1,023,681 89,199 -934,482
London Heathrow Airport 481,818 279,701 -202,117
Manchester Airport 731,662 15,813 -715,849

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 731021

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

Description: Iron or steel cans designed to be sealed by soldering or crimping. Commonly used for packaging food or drinks