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 75,231,934
Italy 36,312,690
Portugal 28,475,893
Germany 22,043,494
France 18,649,641

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 41,925,303 33,306,631 -8,618,672
Italy 19,784,295 16,528,395 -3,255,900
Portugal 15,319,664 13,156,229 -2,163,435
Germany 12,685,284 9,358,210 -3,327,074
France 10,633,422 8,016,219 -2,617,203
United States 8,548,085 7,269,021 -1,279,064
Netherlands 6,595,249 6,063,994 -531,255
Turkey 6,337,869 5,799,457 -538,412
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 3,237,598 1,887,284 -1,350,314
Poland 2,009,956 1,686,559 -323,397

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 82,740,036
Italy 38,479,530
Portugal 29,997,442
Germany 24,014,717
France 13,103,188

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 46,564,189 36,175,847 -10,388,342
Italy 21,174,070 17,305,460 -3,868,610
Portugal 16,558,351 13,439,091 -3,119,260
Germany 14,030,942 9,983,775 -4,047,167
France 7,392,721 5,710,467 -1,682,254
United States 5,472,154 7,362,040 +1,889,886
Turkey 6,449,595 5,803,773 -645,822
Netherlands 5,126,098 4,297,643 -828,455
Poland 1,950,329 1,691,130 -259,199
United Kingdom 2,248,375 1,074,384 -1,173,991

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 76
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 63
Greater Manchester 54
West Yorkshire 49
Outer London - West and North West 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 51 51 +0
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 47 47 +0
Greater Manchester 40 39 -1
West Yorkshire 39 32 -7
Outer London - West and North West 34 29 -5
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 24 26 +2
Surrey, East and West Sussex 21 31 +10
West Midlands 25 25 +0
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 22 21 -1
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 19 23 +4

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) 116,038,532
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 116,006,584
Air transport 19,599,627
Other 3,144,667
Road transport 1,363,859

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) 63,128,637 52,909,895 -10,218,742
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 67,364,233 48,642,351 -18,721,882
Air transport 9,143,875 10,455,752 +1,311,877
Other 2,089,078 1,055,589 -1,033,489
Road transport 502,731 861,128 +358,397

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Felixstowe 50,888,328
Dover 43,297,842
Southampton 30,224,163
London 23,746,028
Immingham Docks 19,303,657

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 31,375,036 19,513,292 -11,861,744
Dover 25,236,085 18,061,757 -7,174,328
Southampton 18,063,897 12,160,266 -5,903,631
London 12,167,379 11,578,649 -588,730
Immingham Docks 10,537,556 8,766,101 -1,771,455
Liverpool Docks 8,192,544 5,438,231 -2,754,313
Eurotunnel 6,713,421 6,282,320 -431,101
London Gateway Port 3,053,291 8,125,456 +5,072,165
London Heathrow Airport 3,713,270 4,038,317 +325,047
Hull 2,142,214 3,646,754 +1,504,540

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
268
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
151
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products
98
Other manufacturing
63
Manufacture of food products
52

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 189
2026-04 156
2026-03 172
2026-02 177
2026-01 159

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 408
54m+ 301
15m-54m 121
0-1m 104
Other 46

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 17,002,123
Italy 13,990,248
Belgium 12,974,258
Taiwan 12,504,236
United States 10,789,912

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 9,148,115 7,854,008 -1,294,107
Italy 6,639,227 7,351,021 +711,794
Belgium 6,565,185 6,409,073 -156,112
Taiwan 6,605,589 5,898,647 -706,942
United States 4,547,051 6,242,861 +1,695,810
Poland 4,409,341 4,528,401 +119,060
France 3,962,518 4,040,812 +78,294
Israel 4,458,908 2,710,551 -1,748,357
Japan 4,124,641 1,164,011 -2,960,630
Netherlands 2,926,009 1,997,818 -928,191

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 125,718
XI 82,314
China 47,631
Latvia 24,346
Indonesia 10,552

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 124,335 1,383 -122,952
XI 26,246 56,068 +29,822
China 31,152 16,479 -14,673
Latvia 7,612 16,734 +9,122
Indonesia 5,413 5,139 -274
India 2,305 5,681 +3,376
Poland 1,520 2,057 +537
Ireland 0 3,393 +3,393
Germany 573 1,319 +746
Switzerland 1,126 70 -1,056

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) 78,678,045
Air transport 34,866,253
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 16,549,556
Other 318,852
Road transport 2,000

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) 39,589,646 39,088,399 -501,247
Air transport 18,287,259 16,578,994 -1,708,265
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 12,495,520 4,054,036 -8,441,484
Other 205,594 113,258 -92,336
Road transport 2,000 0 -2,000

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 48,261,735
London Heathrow Airport 23,135,893
London 11,383,590
London Gateway Port 7,330,720
Harwich 4,173,367

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 24,187,066 24,074,669 -112,397
London Heathrow Airport 13,772,607 9,363,286 -4,409,321
London 5,209,311 6,174,279 +964,968
London Gateway Port 6,524,293 806,427 -5,717,866
Harwich 1,516,890 2,656,477 +1,139,587
Felixstowe 2,324,352 1,555,247 -769,105
Manchester Airport 309,193 3,419,994 +3,110,801
London Stansted Airport 1,588,413 1,595,859 +7,446
Immingham Docks 1,473,142 1,414,083 -59,059
ZLC 1,082,745 1,388,309 +305,564

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