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 11,351,876
United States 7,022,216
Netherlands 3,781,956
China 3,510,785
Belgium 3,434,141

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 6,085,717 5,266,159 -819,558
United States 4,910,168 2,112,048 -2,798,120
Netherlands 2,080,777 1,701,179 -379,598
China 2,034,179 1,476,606 -557,573
Belgium 2,685,095 749,046 -1,936,049
Poland 1,629,268 1,599,651 -29,617
Italy 1,105,818 1,299,081 +193,263
Switzerland 1,270,755 697,221 -573,534
France 1,177,434 423,114 -754,320
Czechia 553,551 695,730 +142,179

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 10,746,256
United States 7,161,109
China 5,415,886
Poland 4,206,310
Italy 2,347,572

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 6,250,189 4,496,067 -1,754,122
United States 4,952,798 2,208,311 -2,744,487
China 3,425,407 1,990,479 -1,434,928
Poland 1,923,725 2,282,585 +358,860
Italy 1,122,832 1,224,740 +101,908
Switzerland 1,253,278 641,810 -611,468
Belgium 1,067,208 561,876 -505,332
United Kingdom 1,010,002 568,497 -441,505
Czechia 936,255 476,054 -460,201
Netherlands 742,049 615,840 -126,209

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Greater Manchester 29
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 25
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 24
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 20
West Yorkshire 18

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 20 19 -1
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 21 12 -9
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 18 14 -4
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 11 17 +6
West Yorkshire 15 12 -3
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 13 10 -3
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 14 9 -5
West Midlands 8 13 +5
Inner London - West 15 6 -9
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 12 7 -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) 20,630,284
Air transport 17,340,795
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 7,070,658
Road transport 268,735
Other 256,690

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) 12,077,596 8,552,688 -3,524,908
Air transport 10,914,470 6,426,325 -4,488,145
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 4,261,897 2,808,761 -1,453,136
Road transport 160,445 108,290 -52,155
Other 184,244 72,446 -111,798
Rail transport 16,259 0 -16,259

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 10,755,255
East Midlands Airport 5,344,086
London Stansted Airport 5,275,430
Eurotunnel 3,371,486
London Heathrow Airport 3,234,453

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 5,922,525 4,832,730 -1,089,795
East Midlands Airport 2,974,942 2,369,144 -605,798
London Stansted Airport 4,011,950 1,263,480 -2,748,470
Eurotunnel 1,868,675 1,502,811 -365,864
London Heathrow Airport 2,080,453 1,154,000 -926,453
London Gateway Port 1,394,249 797,265 -596,984
Felixstowe 1,519,252 648,731 -870,521
Birmingham Airport 1,121,397 968,730 -152,667
London 604,881 882,222 +277,341
Immingham Docks 656,563 598,965 -57,598

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
59
Printing and reproduction of recorded media
44
Other manufacturing
39
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
2026-05 67
2026-04 63
2026-03 64
2026-02 71
2026-01 63

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 173
54m+ 133
15m-54m 44
0-1m 33
Other 22

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 7,472,543
United States 6,217,779
Ireland 3,245,346
France 2,014,004
Netherlands 1,748,179

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 4,440,919 3,031,624 -1,409,295
United States 3,478,648 2,739,131 -739,517
Ireland 2,129,230 1,116,116 -1,013,114
France 1,191,581 822,423 -369,158
Netherlands 982,583 765,596 -216,987
Poland 648,036 944,337 +296,301
Italy 767,292 818,269 +50,977
India 1,023,067 487,130 -535,937
Spain 677,812 739,680 +61,868
Czechia 741,819 538,518 -203,301

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 7,733
China 3,360
Finland 694
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 6,767 966 -5,801
China 1,220 2,140 +920
Finland 536 158 -378
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 21,152,611
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 18,967,150
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 6,025,994
Other 12,323
Road transport 10,387

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 11,486,962 9,665,649 -1,821,313
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 10,781,707 8,185,443 -2,596,264
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 3,113,728 2,912,266 -201,462
Other 8,860 3,463 -5,397
Road transport 10,387 0 -10,387

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 14,406,490
East Midlands Airport 8,432,330
London Heathrow Airport 5,958,345
Manchester Airport 3,081,614
ZLC 2,730,965

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 8,201,395 6,205,095 -1,996,300
East Midlands Airport 4,774,935 3,657,395 -1,117,540
London Heathrow Airport 3,314,697 2,643,648 -671,049
Manchester Airport 1,564,969 1,516,645 -48,324
ZLC 1,235,491 1,495,474 +259,983
Southampton 713,277 1,431,624 +718,347
London Gateway Port 1,153,643 594,524 -559,119
Immingham Docks 1,155,781 504,704 -651,077
Dover 562,840 854,086 +291,246
Liverpool Docks 575,133 351,769 -223,364

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