Import/export HS code 8472: Office machines

Machines used in offices, like duplicators, coin sorters, or staplers

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 41,470,357
France 23,989,269
Netherlands 17,956,304
Germany 14,942,216
India 14,404,162

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 25,338,064 16,132,293 -9,205,771
France 11,990,927 11,998,342 +7,415
Netherlands 6,742,668 11,213,636 +4,470,968
Germany 9,184,254 5,757,962 -3,426,292
India 6,914,931 7,489,231 +574,300
Hungary 3,917,312 9,436,364 +5,519,052
South Korea 3,550,893 5,453,591 +1,902,698
United States 3,151,427 3,273,770 +122,343
Mexico 3,388,577 2,336,278 -1,052,299
Italy 2,422,938 1,710,011 -712,927

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 51,435,251
Germany 26,600,836
India 14,808,227
Hungary 11,490,273
South Korea 9,836,502

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 30,944,442 20,490,809 -10,453,633
Germany 10,028,576 16,572,260 +6,543,684
India 7,254,768 7,553,459 +298,691
Hungary 4,403,307 7,086,966 +2,683,659
South Korea 3,915,211 5,921,291 +2,006,080
United States 3,256,002 3,923,717 +667,715
Philippines 1,769,955 4,780,607 +3,010,652
Mexico 3,376,176 2,520,372 -855,804
Italy 2,472,611 2,621,633 +149,022
France 4,408,928 286,528 -4,122,400

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 32
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 27
Greater Manchester 23
West Midlands 19
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 15

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 22 16 -6
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 21 19 -2
Greater Manchester 16 16 +0
West Midlands 14 14 +0
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 9 12 +3
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 11 11 +0
Inner London - East 10 11 +1
Surrey, East and West Sussex 9 10 +1
Outer London - West and North West 10 7 -3
West Yorkshire 9 6 -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) 70,005,925
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 65,908,491
Air transport 25,663,364
Other 1,836,522
Road transport 1,114,494

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) 32,888,055 37,117,870 +4,229,815
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 34,814,819 31,093,672 -3,721,147
Air transport 13,534,198 12,129,166 -1,405,032
Other 1,197,245 639,277 -557,968
Road transport 57,095 1,057,399 +1,000,304

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 33,282,981
Felixstowe 32,147,678
London Gateway Port 18,899,520
Eurotunnel 12,148,438
London Heathrow Airport 10,749,617

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 12,919,479 20,363,502 +7,444,023
Felixstowe 20,594,148 11,553,530 -9,040,618
London Gateway Port 8,009,298 10,890,222 +2,880,924
Eurotunnel 6,568,649 5,579,789 -988,860
London Heathrow Airport 5,191,571 5,558,046 +366,475
Southampton 6,191,925 2,978,029 -3,213,896
Liverpool Docks 2,485,499 6,196,266 +3,710,767
Immingham Docks 2,662,039 3,196,373 +534,334
Birmingham Airport 2,499,353 3,201,220 +701,867
Hull 2,716,029 1,275,766 -1,440,263

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 89
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 67
Computer programming, consultancy and related activities 27
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 26
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 26

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 52
2025-11 64
2025-10 69
2025-09 59
2025-08 54

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 122
54m+ 99
15m-54m 41
0-1m 40
Other 36

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 £
United States 34,947,264
Netherlands 24,876,439
Germany 10,011,478
France 9,051,275
Italy 5,055,751

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 £
United States 19,452,985 15,494,279 -3,958,706
Netherlands 13,297,995 11,578,444 -1,719,551
Germany 5,165,120 4,846,358 -318,762
France 4,582,601 4,468,674 -113,927
Italy 3,083,323 1,972,428 -1,110,895
Spain 2,897,205 1,807,679 -1,089,526
Ireland 2,031,266 1,764,819 -266,447
Mexico 1,606,162 1,257,959 -348,203
Hungary 1,598,013 752,949 -845,064
South Africa 1,447,461 896,067 -551,394

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 £
Philippines 728,928
Austria 185,656
China 105,821
XI 4,671
Ireland 1,240

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 £
Philippines 268,035 460,893 +192,858
Austria 171,035 14,621 -156,414
China 48,993 56,828 +7,835
XI 550 4,121 +3,571
Ireland 1,151 89 -1,062
Switzerland 7 0 -7

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) 65,827,791
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 32,269,964
Air transport 26,502,669
Other 1,029,030
Rail transport 21,584

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) 36,883,098 28,944,693 -7,938,405
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 17,635,292 14,634,672 -3,000,620
Air transport 14,120,228 12,382,441 -1,737,787
Other 491,882 537,148 +45,266
Rail transport 21,584 0 -21,584
Road transport 8,345 0 -8,345

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 48,733,518
Southampton 20,347,351
London Heathrow Airport 16,826,759
London Gateway Port 7,758,825
Dover 6,599,428

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 27,613,352 21,120,166 -6,493,186
Southampton 10,578,990 9,768,361 -810,629
London Heathrow Airport 8,980,863 7,845,896 -1,134,967
London Gateway Port 5,018,808 2,740,017 -2,278,791
Dover 3,807,633 2,791,795 -1,015,838
Immingham Docks 2,242,551 2,234,366 -8,185
East Midlands Airport 2,175,429 2,067,602 -107,827
Manchester Airport 1,846,150 1,550,905 -295,245
Holyhead 1,319,354 1,567,132 +247,778
Liverpool Docks 1,202,447 1,411,320 +208,873

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 8472

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

Description: Machines used in offices, like duplicators, coin sorters, or staplers