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 70,444,398
Italy 34,105,481
Portugal 27,853,690
Germany 22,807,161
France 17,718,107

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 39,301,436 31,142,962 -8,158,474
Italy 20,219,639 13,885,842 -6,333,797
Portugal 14,462,875 13,390,815 -1,072,060
Germany 14,065,740 8,741,421 -5,324,319
France 11,028,695 6,689,412 -4,339,283
United States 8,864,321 5,134,956 -3,729,365
Netherlands 6,742,954 4,808,425 -1,934,529
Turkey 6,080,588 5,182,501 -898,087
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 2,846,003 1,756,068 -1,089,935
Belgium 2,579,079 669,898 -1,909,181

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 77,197,881
Italy 36,204,457
Portugal 29,313,070
Germany 25,118,731
France 12,526,673

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 42,954,851 34,243,030 -8,711,821
Italy 21,710,553 14,493,904 -7,216,649
Portugal 15,675,215 13,637,855 -2,037,360
Germany 15,812,872 9,305,859 -6,507,013
France 7,810,916 4,715,757 -3,095,159
Turkey 6,315,299 5,247,159 -1,068,140
United States 4,891,309 5,104,942 +213,633
Netherlands 5,363,677 3,438,917 -1,924,760
United Kingdom 2,601,992 1,213,822 -1,388,170
Belgium 3,188,111 384,705 -2,803,406

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 69
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 61
West Yorkshire 50
Outer London - West and North West 47
Greater Manchester 45

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 54 39 -15
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 53 38 -15
West Yorkshire 41 30 -11
Outer London - West and North West 34 27 -7
Greater Manchester 36 28 -8
Surrey, East and West Sussex 26 30 +4
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 21 23 +2
West Midlands 25 23 -2
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 23 18 -5
Shropshire and Staffordshire 21 24 +3

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) 114,463,007
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 108,339,355
Air transport 16,503,146
Other 3,042,041
Road transport 1,069,519

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) 68,954,117 45,508,890 -23,445,227
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 61,022,502 47,316,853 -13,705,649
Air transport 9,259,525 7,243,621 -2,015,904
Other 1,964,623 1,077,418 -887,205
Road transport 558,837 510,682 -48,155

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Felixstowe 48,976,866
Dover 41,811,228
Southampton 29,519,175
London 22,299,956
Immingham Docks 20,054,655

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 31,149,156 17,827,710 -13,321,446
Dover 25,132,707 16,678,521 -8,454,186
Southampton 16,810,577 12,708,598 -4,101,979
London 10,753,550 11,546,406 +792,856
Immingham Docks 12,320,424 7,734,231 -4,586,193
Liverpool Docks 8,192,262 5,671,337 -2,520,925
Eurotunnel 7,025,078 5,024,893 -2,000,185
London Gateway Port 1,736,345 6,146,116 +4,409,771
London Heathrow Airport 3,951,217 3,198,015 -753,202
Birmingham Airport 3,128,029 1,283,692 -1,844,337

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 255
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 143
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products 100
Other manufacturing 59
Manufacture of food products 45

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 159
2025-11 196
2025-10 212
2025-09 171
2025-08 161

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 363
54m+ 298
15m-54m 120
0-1m 105
Other 45

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 18,109,003
Belgium 12,840,105
Taiwan 12,188,663
Italy 11,859,567
United States 10,280,795

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 7,981,510 10,127,493 +2,145,983
Belgium 5,581,160 7,258,945 +1,677,785
Taiwan 7,349,382 4,839,281 -2,510,101
Italy 6,336,519 5,523,048 -813,471
United States 4,919,706 5,361,089 +441,383
France 4,435,350 3,803,672 -631,678
Poland 3,259,794 4,770,210 +1,510,416
Spain 4,712,381 2,179,925 -2,532,456
Israel 3,888,271 2,997,710 -890,561
Japan 3,192,351 2,964,400 -227,951

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 129,448
XI 81,390
China 44,447
Latvia 14,634
Indonesia 9,300

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 112,600 16,848 -95,752
XI 19,065 62,325 +43,260
China 26,794 17,653 -9,141
Latvia 8,694 5,940 -2,754
Indonesia 6,463 2,837 -3,626
India 2,897 2,719 -178
Ireland 0 3,181 +3,181
Poland 1,192 1,785 +593
Germany 416 1,214 +798
Switzerland 1,091 340 -751

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) 77,220,723
Air transport 35,282,235
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 17,082,218
Other 303,769
Road transport 16,004

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) 37,800,620 39,420,103 +1,619,483
Air transport 19,301,652 15,980,583 -3,321,069
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 12,104,914 4,977,304 -7,127,610
Other 183,340 120,429 -62,911
Road transport 16,004 0 -16,004

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 50,043,555
London Heathrow Airport 25,991,071
London 9,430,768
London Gateway Port 7,688,243
Felixstowe 3,805,460

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 23,681,011 26,362,544 +2,681,533
London Heathrow Airport 14,301,066 11,690,005 -2,611,061
London 4,524,845 4,905,923 +381,078
London Gateway Port 5,968,258 1,719,985 -4,248,273
Felixstowe 2,339,449 1,466,011 -873,438
London Stansted Airport 2,013,131 1,749,026 -264,105
Harwich 1,281,610 2,177,711 +896,101
Immingham Docks 1,421,466 1,462,521 +41,055
Greenock 2,424,114 0 -2,424,114
Southampton 812,688 1,384,083 +571,395

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