Import/export HS code 731029: Various steel or iron containers

Other types of iron or steel containers, like boxes or drums, used for storing liquids or solids

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 £
China 77,673,839
Italy 38,381,226
Portugal 30,166,909
Germany 24,672,538
France 19,756,043

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 £
China 40,507,216 37,166,623 -3,340,593
Italy 20,321,203 18,060,023 -2,261,180
Portugal 14,282,068 15,884,841 +1,602,773
Germany 13,577,580 11,094,958 -2,482,622
France 11,094,904 8,661,139 -2,433,765
United States 8,837,156 7,818,234 -1,018,922
Netherlands 6,641,264 6,508,222 -133,042
Turkey 6,259,573 6,710,053 +450,480
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 2,848,737 2,289,139 -559,598
Poland 1,734,782 1,858,892 +124,110

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 £
China 85,324,709
Italy 40,433,450
Portugal 31,789,237
Germany 27,000,722
France 13,919,122

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 £
China 44,307,028 41,017,681 -3,289,347
Italy 21,643,837 18,789,613 -2,854,224
Portugal 15,551,429 16,237,808 +686,379
Germany 15,351,586 11,649,136 -3,702,450
France 7,617,354 6,301,768 -1,315,586
Turkey 6,451,651 6,730,228 +278,577
United States 5,046,473 7,856,639 +2,810,166
Netherlands 5,277,112 4,649,356 -627,756
United Kingdom 2,509,943 1,489,921 -1,020,022
Poland 1,834,880 1,767,331 -67,549

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 79
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 69
West Yorkshire 52
Greater Manchester 49
Outer London - West and North West 48

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
Inner London - West 52 52 +0
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 51 48 -3
West Yorkshire 41 34 -7
Greater Manchester 36 35 -1
Outer London - West and North West 33 30 -3
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 23 28 +5
Surrey, East and West Sussex 24 30 +6
West Midlands 25 26 +1
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 22 21 -1
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 21 25 +4

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) 125,520,322
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 120,644,383
Air transport 20,260,540
Other 3,301,274
Road transport 1,274,857

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) 68,622,508 56,897,814 -11,724,694
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 62,188,367 58,456,016 -3,732,351
Air transport 9,379,959 10,880,581 +1,500,622
Other 2,006,483 1,294,791 -711,692
Road transport 514,694 760,163 +245,469

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Felixstowe 53,035,607
Dover 46,569,031
Southampton 32,076,883
London 24,924,491
Immingham Docks 21,982,157

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 £
Felixstowe 31,406,749 21,628,858 -9,777,891
Dover 25,506,452 21,062,579 -4,443,873
Southampton 17,714,539 14,362,344 -3,352,195
London 11,376,135 13,548,356 +2,172,221
Immingham Docks 11,942,112 10,040,045 -1,902,067
Liverpool Docks 7,563,524 6,463,973 -1,099,551
Eurotunnel 6,975,051 7,008,206 +33,155
London Gateway Port 2,254,942 8,248,954 +5,994,012
London Heathrow Airport 4,017,120 4,445,237 +428,117
Hull 2,038,249 3,661,646 +1,623,397

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 269
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 154
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products 102
Other manufacturing 62
Manufacture of food products 53

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-04 156
2026-03 172
2026-02 177
2026-01 159
2025-12 154

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 402
54m+ 319
15m-54m 122
0-1m 108
Other 51

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 £
Germany 18,517,620
Italy 14,293,933
Taiwan 13,846,749
Belgium 13,676,454
United States 11,493,266

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 £
Germany 7,811,026 10,706,594 +2,895,568
Italy 6,220,493 8,073,440 +1,852,947
Taiwan 7,043,092 6,803,657 -239,435
Belgium 6,138,545 7,537,909 +1,399,364
United States 4,804,131 6,689,135 +1,885,004
France 4,317,036 4,692,917 +375,881
Poland 3,482,908 5,482,370 +1,999,462
Israel 4,111,661 3,255,682 -855,979
Spain 4,278,477 2,448,792 -1,829,685
Japan 3,767,982 2,491,357 -1,276,625

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 128,823
XI 83,121
China 49,651
Latvia 23,147
Indonesia 11,434

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 111,542 17,281 -94,261
XI 19,409 63,712 +44,303
China 25,127 24,524 -603
Latvia 7,792 15,355 +7,563
Indonesia 6,442 4,992 -1,450
India 2,370 5,452 +3,082
Poland 1,144 2,415 +1,271
Ireland 0 3,384 +3,384
Germany 501 1,452 +951
Switzerland 1,431 70 -1,361

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) 84,510,297
Air transport 38,972,294
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 17,324,580
Other 326,066
Road transport 13,503

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) 38,092,352 46,417,945 +8,325,593
Air transport 19,436,486 19,535,808 +99,322
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 11,952,836 5,371,744 -6,581,092
Other 181,880 144,186 -37,694
Road transport 13,503 0 -13,503

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 52,994,510
London Heathrow Airport 26,629,147
London 11,451,892
London Gateway Port 7,656,314
Harwich 4,260,989

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 23,645,489 29,349,021 +5,703,532
London Heathrow Airport 14,639,498 11,989,649 -2,649,849
London 4,580,172 6,871,720 +2,291,548
London Gateway Port 6,306,613 1,349,701 -4,956,912
Harwich 1,432,577 2,828,412 +1,395,835
Felixstowe 2,398,838 1,768,487 -630,351
London Stansted Airport 1,859,361 1,925,586 +66,225
Manchester Airport 289,113 3,197,376 +2,908,263
Immingham Docks 1,294,297 1,884,652 +590,355
ZLC 1,076,105 1,458,289 +382,184

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 731029

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

Description: Other types of iron or steel containers, like boxes or drums, used for storing liquids or solids