Import/export HS code 8442: Printing plate and cylinder machinery

Machines and equipment used to prepare plates, cylinders, or other components for printing

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 £
Germany 11,660,035
United States 7,077,000
Netherlands 3,884,644
China 3,738,474
Belgium 3,688,100

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 £
Germany 5,726,966 5,933,069 +206,103
United States 4,655,888 2,421,112 -2,234,776
Netherlands 1,608,870 2,275,774 +666,904
China 2,147,746 1,590,728 -557,018
Belgium 2,531,030 1,157,070 -1,373,960
Poland 1,613,446 1,619,366 +5,920
Italy 1,214,162 1,255,638 +41,476
Switzerland 1,340,311 773,993 -566,318
France 1,115,670 581,434 -534,236
Czechia 500,174 729,981 +229,807

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 £
Germany 10,781,813
United States 7,230,095
China 5,708,114
Poland 4,228,677
Italy 2,637,964

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 £
Germany 6,070,037 4,711,776 -1,358,261
United States 4,690,206 2,539,889 -2,150,317
China 3,019,678 2,688,436 -331,242
Poland 1,791,676 2,437,001 +645,325
Italy 1,328,060 1,309,904 -18,156
Switzerland 1,342,799 701,479 -641,320
Belgium 1,075,653 675,764 -399,889
United Kingdom 1,046,880 554,175 -492,705
Japan 951,062 482,334 -468,728
Czechia 425,214 986,572 +561,358

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Greater Manchester 30
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 27
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 23
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 21
West Yorkshire 20

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 21 19 -2
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 21 13 -8
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 17 14 -3
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 10 17 +7
West Yorkshire 17 13 -4
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 13 9 -4
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 12 10 -2
West Midlands 8 14 +6
Inner London - West 13 8 -5
Surrey, East and West Sussex 13 8 -5

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) 21,258,481
Air transport 17,858,766
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 7,539,354
Road transport 270,534
Other 268,846

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) 10,999,764 10,258,717 -741,047
Air transport 10,875,420 6,983,346 -3,892,074
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 4,314,651 3,224,703 -1,089,948
Road transport 158,340 112,194 -46,146
Other 187,235 81,611 -105,624
Rail transport 0 16,259 +16,259

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 10,902,078
East Midlands Airport 5,651,006
London Stansted Airport 5,313,561
Eurotunnel 3,407,974
London Heathrow Airport 3,311,205

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 £
Dover 5,206,687 5,695,391 +488,704
East Midlands Airport 3,073,552 2,577,454 -496,098
London Stansted Airport 3,979,092 1,334,469 -2,644,623
Eurotunnel 1,592,371 1,815,603 +223,232
London Heathrow Airport 1,956,162 1,355,043 -601,119
Felixstowe 1,440,190 1,185,641 -254,549
London Gateway Port 1,405,877 904,158 -501,719
Birmingham Airport 1,078,054 1,001,040 -77,014
London 532,870 1,027,470 +494,600
Immingham Docks 531,598 833,442 +301,844

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 62
Printing and reproduction of recorded media 46
Other manufacturing 38
Manufacture of paper and paper products 37
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 36

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-04 63
2026-03 64
2026-02 71
2026-01 63
2025-12 66

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 178
54m+ 138
15m-54m 46
0-1m 33
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 £
Germany 7,957,477
United States 6,570,389
Ireland 3,456,128
France 2,251,491
Netherlands 1,961,875

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 4,233,259 3,724,218 -509,041
United States 3,308,232 3,262,157 -46,075
Ireland 2,171,577 1,284,551 -887,026
France 1,384,872 866,619 -518,253
Netherlands 983,885 977,990 -5,895
India 1,103,773 463,933 -639,840
Poland 706,458 846,294 +139,836
Italy 754,516 759,599 +5,083
Spain 674,097 796,344 +122,247
Denmark 655,985 695,779 +39,794

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 £
XI 7,948
Finland 4,437
China 3,360
Germany 263
New Zealand 10

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 £
XI 6,982 966 -6,016
Finland 3,852 585 -3,267
China 964 2,396 +1,432
Germany 263 0 -263
New Zealand 10 0 -10
Spain 4 0 -4

Export volume by transport

What this shows: Export value by transport mode used to ship goods from the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Air transport 22,424,681
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 19,997,372
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 6,489,129
Road transport 30,474
Other 16,184

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 £
Air transport 11,972,596 10,452,085 -1,520,511
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 10,485,938 9,511,434 -974,504
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 3,309,521 3,179,608 -129,913
Road transport 30,474 0 -30,474
Other 12,135 4,049 -8,086

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 15,304,083
East Midlands Airport 8,964,957
London Heathrow Airport 6,091,353
Manchester Airport 3,342,333
ZLC 2,843,655

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 8,285,792 7,018,291 -1,267,501
East Midlands Airport 5,004,888 3,960,069 -1,044,819
London Heathrow Airport 3,310,679 2,780,674 -530,005
Manchester Airport 1,658,523 1,683,810 +25,287
ZLC 1,252,283 1,591,372 +339,089
London Gateway Port 1,505,062 679,538 -825,524
Southampton 506,320 1,611,616 +1,105,296
Immingham Docks 986,136 835,093 -151,043
Dover 518,017 850,884 +332,867
London Stansted Airport 691,301 378,119 -313,182

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 8442

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

Description: Machines and equipment used to prepare plates, cylinders, or other components for printing