Import/export HS code 8506: Primary cells and batteries

Non-rechargeable batteries and cells, including all types like manganese dioxide, lithium, and silver oxide

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 £
Belgium 266,569,207
China 120,444,943
United States 48,669,994
Germany 48,394,217
Netherlands 20,621,979

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 £
Belgium 145,313,400 121,255,807 -24,057,593
China 68,295,250 52,149,693 -16,145,557
United States 32,375,062 16,294,932 -16,080,130
Germany 27,859,531 20,534,686 -7,324,845
Netherlands 11,731,522 8,890,457 -2,841,065
France 9,909,349 7,395,847 -2,513,502
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 6,900,941 4,843,806 -2,057,135
Japan 4,577,634 2,666,849 -1,910,785
South Korea 2,002,862 1,558,515 -444,347
Ireland 1,987,816 1,290,201 -697,615

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 192,577,748
Belgium 177,806,504
United States 64,746,608
Germany 22,992,563
Poland 22,164,587

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 107,320,000 85,257,748 -22,062,252
Belgium 95,027,790 82,778,714 -12,249,076
United States 43,165,610 21,580,998 -21,584,612
Germany 13,773,266 9,219,297 -4,553,969
Poland 11,867,293 10,297,294 -1,569,999
Singapore 10,682,339 6,571,906 -4,110,433
Indonesia 6,388,229 4,106,793 -2,281,436
Japan 5,917,547 4,337,375 -1,580,172
France 5,335,000 4,852,195 -482,805
Switzerland 2,263,239 2,176,053 -87,186

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 123
Greater Manchester 90
Inner London - West 76
Surrey, East and West Sussex 72
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 69

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 95 78 -17
Greater Manchester 63 60 -3
Inner London - West 58 42 -16
Surrey, East and West Sussex 56 48 -8
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 55 47 -8
Outer London - West and North West 57 36 -21
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 49 29 -20
West Midlands 41 38 -3
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 35 29 -6
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 31 29 -2

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) 252,716,198
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 221,286,962
Air transport 87,430,543
Other 8,357,878
Road transport 2,024,510

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) 148,827,283 103,888,915 -44,938,368
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 116,688,605 104,598,357 -12,090,248
Air transport 53,408,109 34,022,434 -19,385,675
Other 5,933,988 2,423,890 -3,510,098
Road transport 419,276 1,605,234 +1,185,958

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Eurotunnel 124,628,657
Felixstowe 83,037,343
Dover 81,510,089
Thamesport 63,123,014
London Stansted Airport 26,876,864

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 £
Eurotunnel 63,427,477 61,201,180 -2,226,297
Felixstowe 59,204,366 23,832,977 -35,371,389
Dover 48,940,514 32,569,575 -16,370,939
Thamesport 33,739,813 29,383,201 -4,356,612
London Stansted Airport 16,781,122 10,095,742 -6,685,380
London Gateway Port 5,156,465 20,662,623 +15,506,158
Southampton 15,254,766 6,874,595 -8,380,171
Manchester Airport 12,330,254 5,527,334 -6,802,920
Birmingham Airport 8,944,510 7,076,458 -1,868,052
Immingham Docks 10,765,750 3,962,157 -6,803,593

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 402
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 163
Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products 92
Manufacture of electrical equipment 84
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 84

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 233
2025-11 242
2025-10 284
2025-09 237
2025-08 245

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
54m+ 511
1m-15m 501
0-1m 154
15m-54m 142
Other 115

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 37,900,418
France 32,644,044
Ireland 15,123,368
Germany 11,922,072
Poland 10,647,397

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 23,793,701 14,106,717 -9,686,984
France 20,579,580 12,064,464 -8,515,116
Ireland 9,131,292 5,992,076 -3,139,216
Germany 7,547,863 4,374,209 -3,173,654
Poland 5,194,810 5,452,587 +257,777
China 5,231,072 2,784,293 -2,446,779
Netherlands 4,782,751 2,790,315 -1,992,436
Italy 3,884,124 2,653,809 -1,230,315
Spain 3,277,612 3,007,953 -269,659
Canada 2,745,748 2,781,063 +35,315

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 748,997
China 317,339
Belgium 191,143
Sweden 169,684
Ireland 110,856

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 210,359 538,638 +328,279
China 183,849 133,490 -50,359
Belgium 131,304 59,839 -71,465
Sweden 0 169,684 +169,684
Ireland 13,945 96,911 +82,966
United States 58,498 29,027 -29,471
Singapore 32,637 17,943 -14,694
Slovenia 34,207 8,146 -26,061
Poland 24,375 10,988 -13,387
Indonesia 5,387 7,202 +1,815

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 105,250,213
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 96,600,277
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 19,319,233
Other 1,981,724
Road transport 89,910

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 62,651,208 42,599,005 -20,052,203
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 57,750,252 38,850,025 -18,900,227
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 11,565,240 7,753,993 -3,811,247
Other 829,290 1,152,434 +323,144
Road transport 89,910 0 -89,910

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 68,690,611
London Heathrow Airport 51,094,185
East Midlands Airport 13,610,801
London Stansted Airport 11,941,463
Newcastle Airport 11,411,951

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 41,316,219 27,374,392 -13,941,827
London Heathrow Airport 31,152,187 19,941,998 -11,210,189
East Midlands Airport 8,381,933 5,228,868 -3,153,065
London Stansted Airport 6,532,186 5,409,277 -1,122,909
Newcastle Airport 6,555,249 4,856,702 -1,698,547
Dover 6,084,013 4,100,963 -1,983,050
ZLC 5,694,888 4,099,716 -1,595,172
Liverpool Docks 4,322,885 2,777,537 -1,545,348
London Gateway Port 3,294,450 2,832,164 -462,286
Holyhead 3,402,654 1,410,999 -1,991,655

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 8506

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

Description: Non-rechargeable batteries and cells, including all types like manganese dioxide, lithium, and silver oxide