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 49,566,729
China 33,742,534
Netherlands 16,227,706
Ireland 13,031,697
Germany 11,530,448

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 24,313,129 25,253,600 +940,471
China 17,899,854 15,842,680 -2,057,174
Netherlands 7,659,118 8,568,588 +909,470
Ireland 6,099,432 6,932,265 +832,833
Germany 5,817,758 5,712,690 -105,068
Denmark 4,206,454 3,153,962 -1,052,492
Spain 3,635,787 1,439,693 -2,196,094
France 2,773,166 2,087,642 -685,524
Italy 1,526,855 1,241,127 -285,728
Poland 1,161,666 1,118,766 -42,900

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 50,421,949
China 34,306,942
Netherlands 15,030,109
Ireland 12,971,809
Germany 11,934,064

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 24,434,603 25,987,346 +1,552,743
China 18,179,802 16,127,140 -2,052,662
Netherlands 7,192,622 7,837,487 +644,865
Ireland 6,074,715 6,897,094 +822,379
Germany 6,112,787 5,821,277 -291,510
Denmark 4,206,454 3,154,535 -1,051,919
Spain 3,527,433 1,474,829 -2,052,604
France 2,262,403 1,470,731 -791,672
Italy 1,876,842 1,380,596 -496,246
Poland 1,163,594 1,159,218 -4,376

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 20
Inner London - West 20
Surrey, East and West Sussex 20
Greater Manchester 17
West Yorkshire 15

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 15 13 -2
Inner London - West 13 12 -1
Surrey, East and West Sussex 14 11 -3
Greater Manchester 11 12 +1
West Yorkshire 10 12 +2
Outer London - West and North West 9 9 +0
Shropshire and Staffordshire 10 8 -2
Inner London - East 8 6 -2
Cheshire 6 7 +1
North Somerset, Somerset and Dorset 4 7 +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) 89,039,999
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 57,868,622
Road transport 1,772,740
Air transport 1,549,315
Other 338,141

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) 44,291,188 44,748,811 +457,623
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 31,196,971 26,671,651 -4,525,320
Road transport 1,034,826 737,914 -296,912
Air transport 757,446 791,869 +34,423
Other 217,949 120,192 -97,757

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Grangemouth Docks 28,653,800
Felixstowe 27,241,169
Liverpool Docks 18,009,686
Immingham Docks 17,838,111
Southampton 15,318,761

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 13,252,094 15,401,706 +2,149,612
Felixstowe 17,065,010 10,176,159 -6,888,851
Liverpool Docks 7,074,746 10,934,940 +3,860,194
Immingham Docks 10,413,483 7,424,628 -2,988,855
Southampton 6,800,762 8,517,999 +1,717,237
Dover 6,115,074 4,534,673 -1,580,401
London Gateway Port 1,919,657 4,394,276 +2,474,619
Harwich 1,641,875 1,831,112 +189,237
Eurotunnel 1,803,155 1,385,192 -417,963
Hull 1,656,958 1,470,645 -186,313

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
90
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products
43
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
38
Manufacture of food products
26
Other manufacturing
18

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 57
2026-04 49
2026-03 62
2026-02 51
2026-01 56

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 121
54m+ 87
0-1m 41
15m-54m 37
Other 23

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 40,713,743
France 24,576,895
Ireland 9,547,411
Saudi Arabia 6,368,857
Netherlands 6,268,332

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 21,133,632 19,580,111 -1,553,521
France 14,790,167 9,786,728 -5,003,439
Ireland 4,606,313 4,941,098 +334,785
Saudi Arabia 6,367,357 1,500 -6,365,857
Netherlands 3,865,849 2,402,483 -1,463,366
Italy 3,392,137 2,178,791 -1,213,346
Germany 1,346,424 1,261,212 -85,212
United States 1,406,573 726,252 -680,321
Poland 533,306 633,533 +100,227
Hungary 346,246 266,350 -79,896

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 143,057
XI 36,885
Turkey 6,236
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 66,234 76,823 +10,589
XI 34,556 2,329 -32,227
Turkey 5,888 348 -5,540
Germany 1,462 4,316 +2,854
France 3,891 798 -3,093
Ireland 4,519 39 -4,480
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) 91,839,060
Air transport 7,711,523
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 2,252,884
Other 212,599

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) 50,415,730 41,423,330 -8,992,400
Air transport 7,320,698 390,825 -6,929,873
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 1,142,027 1,110,857 -31,170
Other 117,229 95,370 -21,859

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 74,760,869
Heysham 8,425,881
Warton Aerodrome 6,350,669
Immingham Docks 4,115,876
Liverpool Docks 1,793,952

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 41,132,952 33,627,917 -7,505,035
Heysham 3,897,712 4,528,169 +630,457
Warton Aerodrome 6,349,169 1,500 -6,347,669
Immingham Docks 2,427,264 1,688,612 -738,652
Liverpool Docks 962,737 831,215 -131,522
Felixstowe 776,173 400,584 -375,589
Harwich 603,179 524,061 -79,118
Dover 721,406 88,172 -633,234
Southampton 389,575 245,847 -143,728
Manchester Airport 562,020 15,813 -546,207

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