Import/export HS code 8479: Machines with specific functions

Machines and mechanical devices designed for unique tasks not covered elsewhere

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 1,275,632,922
United States 644,626,737
China 340,061,120
Netherlands 322,558,041
Italy 287,067,288

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 699,596,546 576,036,376 -123,560,170
United States 377,187,862 267,438,875 -109,748,987
China 154,593,322 185,467,798 +30,874,476
Netherlands 167,820,147 154,737,894 -13,082,253
Italy 146,550,361 140,516,927 -6,033,434
France 93,437,143 101,513,534 +8,076,391
Poland 75,043,935 75,917,000 +873,065
Switzerland 66,906,507 76,437,549 +9,531,042
Norway 60,197,499 67,503,720 +7,306,221
Denmark 74,568,648 52,393,190 -22,175,458

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 1,148,065,849
United States 796,320,944
China 458,825,662
Italy 324,261,110
United Kingdom 175,973,756

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 622,197,708 525,868,141 -96,329,567
United States 444,261,946 352,058,998 -92,202,948
China 220,218,377 238,607,285 +18,388,908
Italy 165,430,889 158,830,221 -6,600,668
United Kingdom 94,372,234 81,601,522 -12,770,712
Switzerland 71,186,235 83,110,948 +11,924,713
Poland 70,736,245 76,975,308 +6,239,063
Netherlands 83,822,236 63,319,017 -20,503,219
Denmark 70,566,057 47,726,328 -22,839,729
Japan 43,620,961 52,155,217 +8,534,256

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 645
Inner London - West 492
West Midlands 442
Greater Manchester 441
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 409

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 449 480 +31
Inner London - West 322 353 +31
West Midlands 321 301 -20
Greater Manchester 307 331 +24
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 292 308 +16
Surrey, East and West Sussex 284 283 -1
West Yorkshire 307 253 -54
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 286 271 -15
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 272 277 +5
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 258 250 -8

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) 2,253,599,261
Air transport 1,443,194,781
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 889,585,889
Road transport 60,461,022
Other 32,129,698

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) 1,208,809,863 1,044,789,398 -164,020,465
Air transport 754,034,524 689,160,257 -64,874,267
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 436,584,008 453,001,881 +16,417,873
Road transport 27,686,824 32,774,198 +5,087,374
Other 21,302,474 10,827,224 -10,475,250
Rail transport 2,514,885 2,424,401 -90,484
Own propulsion (e.g. imported vehicle driven across land boundary) 0 546,477 +546,477

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 1,029,147,903
London Heathrow Airport 578,009,771
Felixstowe 326,911,670
Immingham Docks 325,623,091
East Midlands Airport 240,647,457

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 557,389,274 471,758,629 -85,630,645
London Heathrow Airport 326,116,404 251,893,367 -74,223,037
Felixstowe 174,971,913 151,939,757 -23,032,156
Immingham Docks 160,416,133 165,206,958 +4,790,825
East Midlands Airport 121,576,234 119,071,223 -2,505,011
Eurotunnel 125,589,347 111,751,050 -13,838,297
Birmingham Airport 76,939,704 80,368,532 +3,428,828
Southampton 62,981,298 89,762,891 +26,781,593
Harwich 68,654,186 64,530,335 -4,123,851
London Stansted Airport 60,331,181 65,585,923 +5,254,742

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
2024
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c.
841
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
731
Other manufacturing
631
Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment
511

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 1883
2026-04 1998
2026-03 2089
2026-02 1949
2026-01 1861

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 4217
54m+ 2626
0-1m 1289
15m-54m 1060
Other 600

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 613,460,401
Germany 301,137,192
Netherlands 184,338,794
France 153,359,494
Norway 126,836,632

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 335,658,478 277,801,923 -57,856,555
Germany 144,852,119 156,285,073 +11,432,954
Netherlands 88,595,714 95,743,080 +7,147,366
France 78,671,037 74,688,457 -3,982,580
Norway 66,406,594 60,430,038 -5,976,556
Ireland 65,231,341 57,360,343 -7,870,998
Brazil 61,606,190 40,107,723 -21,498,467
Belgium 50,203,722 43,954,912 -6,248,810
China 48,689,264 41,459,461 -7,229,803
Poland 32,465,887 45,803,911 +13,338,024

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 11,962,396
Italy 1,466,702
Germany 500,629
China 131,123
Ireland 120,623

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 7,270,842 4,691,554 -2,579,288
Italy 697,214 769,488 +72,274
Germany 285,084 215,545 -69,539
China 83,695 47,428 -36,267
Ireland 44,818 75,805 +30,987
Netherlands 11,868 105,273 +93,405
XL 0 65,039 +65,039
Sweden 35,563 23,557 -12,006
Turkey 51,798 3,721 -48,077
United States 28,832 8,744 -20,088

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) 1,198,117,027
Air transport 1,132,057,891
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 766,365,232
Other 15,042,742
Road transport 903,210

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) 609,838,043 588,278,984 -21,559,059
Air transport 575,044,434 557,013,457 -18,030,977
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 432,764,889 333,600,343 -99,164,546
Other 8,780,055 6,262,687 -2,517,368
Road transport 565,812 337,398 -228,414
Rail transport 0 90,183 +90,183

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 744,360,641
London Heathrow Airport 601,683,698
London Gateway Port 243,520,527
Immingham Docks 213,220,317
East Midlands Airport 181,368,230

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 390,928,525 353,432,116 -37,496,409
London Heathrow Airport 303,452,383 298,231,315 -5,221,068
London Gateway Port 142,641,131 100,879,396 -41,761,735
Immingham Docks 103,451,160 109,769,157 +6,317,997
East Midlands Airport 98,070,044 83,298,186 -14,771,858
Southampton 89,655,648 69,146,565 -20,509,083
Liverpool Docks 65,855,361 41,851,447 -24,003,914
London Stansted Airport 41,812,765 53,579,436 +11,766,671
Felixstowe 41,237,596 50,844,916 +9,607,320
Aberdeen Docks 42,975,378 34,273,295 -8,702,083

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 8479

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

Description: Machines and mechanical devices designed for unique tasks not covered elsewhere