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 11,501,094
United States 6,902,530
Netherlands 3,531,161
Belgium 3,450,778
China 3,249,692

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 6,030,836 5,470,258 -560,578
United States 4,472,625 2,429,905 -2,042,720
Netherlands 1,785,529 1,745,632 -39,897
Belgium 2,342,373 1,108,405 -1,233,968
China 1,822,558 1,427,134 -395,424
Poland 1,598,856 1,489,988 -108,868
Italy 1,477,857 772,504 -705,353
Switzerland 1,337,710 662,697 -675,013
France 881,919 739,253 -142,666
Turkey 812,957 177,413 -635,544

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 10,720,252
United States 7,103,285
China 5,064,262
Poland 3,980,241
Italy 2,486,405

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 6,116,110 4,604,142 -1,511,968
United States 4,587,733 2,515,552 -2,072,181
China 2,672,127 2,392,135 -279,992
Poland 1,695,949 2,284,292 +588,343
Italy 1,531,008 955,397 -575,611
Switzerland 1,334,342 623,652 -710,690
Belgium 1,062,069 473,667 -588,402
United Kingdom 1,054,773 394,283 -660,490
Japan 1,047,277 376,808 -670,469
Netherlands 580,519 649,727 +69,208

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 28
Greater Manchester 25
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 22
West Yorkshire 20
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 19

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 20 15 -5
Greater Manchester 20 15 -5
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 16 14 -2
West Yorkshire 15 14 -1
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 9 17 +8
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 13 10 -3
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 11 8 -3
Inner London - West 12 9 -3
Surrey, East and West Sussex 14 7 -7
West Midlands 8 12 +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) 20,681,263
Air transport 16,859,633
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 7,012,437
Other 281,930
Road transport 261,822

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) 11,330,210 9,351,053 -1,979,157
Air transport 10,895,677 5,963,956 -4,931,721
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 3,978,933 3,033,504 -945,429
Other 192,242 89,688 -102,554
Road transport 191,589 70,233 -121,356
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 9,762,341
East Midlands Airport 5,300,847
London Stansted Airport 5,200,785
Eurotunnel 3,205,425
London Heathrow Airport 3,176,925

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 5,196,468 4,565,873 -630,595
East Midlands Airport 3,207,720 2,093,127 -1,114,593
London Stansted Airport 3,871,516 1,329,269 -2,542,247
Eurotunnel 1,627,014 1,578,411 -48,603
London Heathrow Airport 2,035,323 1,141,602 -893,721
Felixstowe 1,213,994 1,268,893 +54,899
London Gateway Port 1,448,626 681,778 -766,848
Birmingham Airport 985,515 861,133 -124,382
Killingholme 773,778 738,014 -35,764
London 593,637 888,633 +294,996

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 60
Printing and reproduction of recorded media 43
Other manufacturing 40
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 37
Manufacture of paper and paper products 32

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 63
2025-11 61
2025-10 59
2025-09 61
2025-08 69

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 175
54m+ 128
15m-54m 43
0-1m 34
Other 19

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 7,481,947
United States 7,178,164
Ireland 3,294,004
France 2,458,763
Netherlands 1,737,754

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 4,032,987 3,448,960 -584,027
United States 4,102,520 3,075,644 -1,026,876
Ireland 2,155,772 1,138,232 -1,017,540
France 1,715,054 743,709 -971,345
Netherlands 946,510 791,244 -155,266
India 990,850 505,643 -485,207
Italy 820,711 590,580 -230,131
Poland 861,246 500,322 -360,924
Spain 654,123 676,851 +22,728
Turkey 860,130 431,683 -428,447

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 8,963
Finland 4,437
China 1,999
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 8,384 579 -7,805
Finland 3,743 694 -3,049
China 475 1,524 +1,049
Germany 0 263 +263
New Zealand 0 10 +10
Spain 0 4 +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 20,827,863
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 19,071,507
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 6,383,330
Road transport 51,531
Other 15,736

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 11,716,817 9,111,046 -2,605,771
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 10,805,526 8,265,981 -2,539,545
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 4,467,496 1,915,834 -2,551,662
Road transport 51,531 0 -51,531
Other 12,602 3,134 -9,468

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 14,727,328
East Midlands Airport 8,167,312
London Heathrow Airport 5,828,258
Manchester Airport 3,000,561
London Gateway Port 2,893,693

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 8,951,195 5,776,133 -3,175,062
East Midlands Airport 4,922,943 3,244,369 -1,678,574
London Heathrow Airport 3,083,026 2,745,232 -337,794
Manchester Airport 1,568,092 1,432,469 -135,623
London Gateway Port 2,443,498 450,195 -1,993,303
ZLC 1,317,093 1,207,411 -109,682
Immingham Docks 580,212 1,094,508 +514,296
Dover 681,445 707,902 +26,457
Southampton 558,882 737,837 +178,955
London Stansted Airport 789,598 434,782 -354,816

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