Import/export HS code 8501: Electric motors

Devices that convert electricity into motion, used in appliances or machinery

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 484,736,163
China 411,338,216
United States 347,662,892
France 314,434,301
Netherlands 166,404,613

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 258,215,856 226,520,307 -31,695,549
China 222,363,857 188,974,359 -33,389,498
United States 188,353,618 159,309,274 -29,044,344
France 159,333,302 155,100,999 -4,232,303
Netherlands 99,094,568 67,310,045 -31,784,523
Japan 18,944,518 104,332,530 +85,388,012
Italy 57,831,541 60,500,965 +2,669,424
Switzerland 57,936,563 50,058,919 -7,877,644
Spain 39,257,856 27,033,932 -12,223,924
Czechia 32,592,569 29,353,651 -3,238,918

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 £
United States 610,476,720
China 483,438,036
Germany 392,648,512
France 197,059,008
United Kingdom 148,217,254

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 £
United States 313,444,143 297,032,577 -16,411,566
China 260,762,377 222,675,659 -38,086,718
Germany 217,558,016 175,090,496 -42,467,520
France 104,187,353 92,871,655 -11,315,698
United Kingdom 80,578,342 67,638,912 -12,939,430
Japan 22,726,214 105,223,472 +82,497,258
Italy 54,576,009 52,091,584 -2,484,425
Switzerland 55,788,422 47,482,882 -8,305,540
Czechia 38,245,694 32,393,149 -5,852,545
Spain 32,588,428 18,587,628 -14,000,800

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 440
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 302
Surrey, East and West Sussex 288
West Midlands 282
West Yorkshire 261

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 334 319 -15
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 230 222 -8
Surrey, East and West Sussex 220 210 -10
West Midlands 212 206 -6
West Yorkshire 203 192 -11
Inner London - West 179 176 -3
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 189 190 +1
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 192 173 -19
Shropshire and Staffordshire 187 183 -4
Greater Manchester 174 167 -7

Import volume by transport

What this shows: Import value by transport mode used to bring goods into the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Air transport 1,108,006,080
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 759,720,846
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 666,940,559
Other 251,297,719
Road transport 37,571,559

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 £
Air transport 578,648,708 529,357,372 -49,291,336
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 414,981,945 344,738,901 -70,243,044
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 297,182,538 369,758,021 +72,575,483
Other 162,875,863 88,421,856 -74,454,007
Road transport 19,883,919 17,687,640 -2,196,279
Rail transport 723,024 322,959 -400,065

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 431,824,896
London Stansted Airport 285,952,916
Dover 262,671,552
000 251,297,719
East Midlands Airport 226,395,066

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 £
London Heathrow Airport 223,476,498 208,348,398 -15,128,100
London Stansted Airport 148,760,525 137,192,391 -11,568,134
Dover 134,625,236 128,046,316 -6,578,920
000 162,875,863 88,421,856 -74,454,007
East Midlands Airport 122,307,506 104,087,560 -18,219,946
Felixstowe 83,985,349 70,024,789 -13,960,560
Eurotunnel 71,450,259 63,057,566 -8,392,693
Southampton 75,740,648 56,118,905 -19,621,743
499 625,168 109,412,944 +108,787,776
Dover / Eurotunnel 58,137,366 44,768,112 -13,369,254

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 1251
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 764
Repair and installation of machinery and equipment 464
Other manufacturing 377
Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment 308

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 1330
2025-11 1515
2025-10 1514
2025-09 1424
2025-08 1422

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 2596
54m+ 1915
0-1m 704
15m-54m 682
Other 377

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 251,574,308
Germany 213,300,500
France 138,086,624
Italy 126,374,436
United Arab Emirates 81,972,143

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 139,303,172 112,271,136 -27,032,036
Germany 114,750,511 98,549,989 -16,200,522
France 69,252,207 68,834,417 -417,790
Italy 69,233,530 57,140,906 -12,092,624
United Arab Emirates 41,537,550 40,434,593 -1,102,957
Romania 10,061,432 53,009,868 +42,948,436
Spain 31,059,244 31,388,727 +329,483
Turkey 10,665,377 50,828,480 +40,163,103
Ireland 31,027,800 21,187,464 -9,840,336
Netherlands 26,202,557 25,778,915 -423,642

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 £
Italy 1,508,789
China 1,356,840
XI 1,275,720
Brazil 670,136
Germany 166,123

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 £
Italy 798,455 710,334 -88,121
China 793,683 563,157 -230,526
XI 629,850 645,870 +16,020
Brazil 333,047 337,089 +4,042
Germany 122,362 43,761 -78,601
Spain 56,685 3,422 -53,263
Austria 30,962 24,570 -6,392
Ireland 18,156 23,916 +5,760
Nicaragua 22,260 0 -22,260
India 12,318 8,726 -3,592

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 895,586,160
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 564,350,701
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 168,716,241
Other 6,148,748
Road transport 640,037

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 467,895,677 427,690,483 -40,205,194
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 244,429,094 319,921,607 +75,492,513
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 96,487,614 72,228,627 -24,258,987
Other 3,327,461 2,821,287 -506,174
Road transport 628,643 11,394 -617,249

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 502,141,387
Dover / Eurotunnel 338,646,393
London Stansted Airport 153,601,304
East Midlands Airport 115,115,679
London 110,983,846

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 £
London Heathrow Airport 261,028,569 241,112,818 -19,915,751
Dover / Eurotunnel 170,096,655 168,549,738 -1,546,917
London Stansted Airport 70,067,160 83,534,144 +13,466,984
East Midlands Airport 63,552,914 51,562,765 -11,990,149
London 11,804,210 99,179,636 +87,375,426
ZLC 42,913,219 28,175,436 -14,737,783
London Gateway Port 30,319,725 19,293,494 -11,026,231
Southampton 28,271,402 18,409,980 -9,861,422
Immingham Docks 17,822,850 21,390,761 +3,567,911
Felixstowe 12,033,463 22,761,028 +10,727,565

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 8501

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

Description: Devices that convert electricity into motion, used in appliances or machinery