Import/export HS code 8511: Electrical ignition and starting equipment for engines

Parts like spark plugs, ignition coils, and starter motors used in car or machinery engines

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 £
United States 231,259,575
Germany 166,369,311
China 136,716,612
France 80,500,946
Japan 76,696,077

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 £
United States 136,567,129 94,692,446 -41,874,683
Germany 83,644,942 82,724,369 -920,573
China 83,027,061 53,689,551 -29,337,510
France 43,471,500 37,029,446 -6,442,054
Japan 41,058,098 35,637,979 -5,420,119
Turkey 25,664,572 26,081,810 +417,238
Poland 26,092,856 23,957,091 -2,135,765
Belgium 22,702,148 24,162,756 +1,460,608
Netherlands 19,337,353 16,231,569 -3,105,784
Slovenia 15,477,864 19,140,461 +3,662,597

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 282,686,629
China 182,620,658
Japan 142,280,840
France 84,460,954
Turkey 56,642,117

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 160,096,688 122,589,941 -37,506,747
China 104,673,942 77,946,716 -26,727,226
Japan 76,165,647 66,115,193 -10,050,454
France 44,467,751 39,993,203 -4,474,548
Turkey 27,508,575 29,133,542 +1,624,967
Germany 23,951,215 22,354,835 -1,596,380
India 16,965,085 18,873,951 +1,908,866
Slovenia 19,705,109 15,849,774 -3,855,335
Poland 16,201,393 11,464,781 -4,736,612
Hungary 11,977,037 14,893,444 +2,916,407

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 91
Surrey, East and West Sussex 70
West Midlands 70
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 64
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 64

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 66 70 +4
Surrey, East and West Sussex 56 51 -5
West Midlands 53 53 +0
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 45 46 +1
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 45 56 +11
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 45 44 -1
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 43 46 +3
Inner London - West 40 44 +4
Essex 38 33 -5
Greater Manchester 28 28 +0

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 417,615,471
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 286,994,170
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 277,661,973
Other 77,704,428
Rail transport 11,203,045

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 228,607,400 189,008,071 -39,599,329
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 147,907,328 139,086,842 -8,820,486
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 127,437,895 150,224,078 +22,786,183
Other 69,931,336 7,773,092 -62,158,244
Rail transport 5,609,204 5,593,841 -15,363
Road transport 388,737 1,094,030 +705,293

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 236,772,784
Southampton 96,623,630
Dover 84,531,588
Felixstowe 81,745,627
000 77,704,428

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 141,806,207 94,966,577 -46,839,630
Southampton 54,684,140 41,939,490 -12,744,650
Dover 43,321,704 41,209,884 -2,111,820
Felixstowe 48,936,495 32,809,132 -16,127,363
000 69,931,336 7,773,092 -62,158,244
Birmingham Airport 32,109,455 29,663,061 -2,446,394
499 99,638 58,690,593 +58,590,955
Eurotunnel 28,809,099 29,830,854 +1,021,755
Harwich 27,738,641 23,090,581 -4,648,060
East Midlands Airport 22,788,889 24,952,831 +2,163,942

Importer companies by SIC division

What this shows: Industry breakdown (SIC divisions) of importing companies.

Top 5 values

SIC Companies
Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles
283
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
191
Repair and installation of machinery and equipment
94
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c.
74
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
65

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 300
2026-04 318
2026-03 327
2026-02 329
2026-01 301

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 462
54m+ 383
0-1m 138
15m-54m 129
Other 102

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 109,345,366
Germany 56,772,347
France 53,339,452
Netherlands 41,585,508
United Arab Emirates 39,581,254

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 59,130,153 50,215,213 -8,914,940
Germany 27,874,734 28,897,613 +1,022,879
France 34,973,907 18,365,545 -16,608,362
Netherlands 23,619,730 17,965,778 -5,653,952
United Arab Emirates 26,035,706 13,545,548 -12,490,158
India 18,593,711 9,306,391 -9,287,320
Poland 8,392,748 11,843,089 +3,450,341
Singapore 7,131,728 10,751,518 +3,619,790
Belgium 9,194,178 8,567,883 -626,295
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 7,599,492 8,682,441 +1,082,949

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 £
China 113,806
Japan 102,599
XI 102,106
Germany 66,981
Poland 55,221

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 £
China 66,297 47,509 -18,788
Japan 45,162 57,437 +12,275
XI 75,372 26,734 -48,638
Germany 31,136 35,845 +4,709
Poland 28,341 26,880 -1,461
Taiwan 7,788 35,254 +27,466
France 7,461 6,510 -951
Thailand 4,950 5,351 +401
Turkey 1,486 6,662 +5,176
Italy 3,765 3,934 +169

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 338,196,814
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 164,560,658
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 77,801,422
Other 700,419
Road transport 24,935

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 190,918,366 147,278,448 -43,639,918
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 88,133,974 76,426,684 -11,707,290
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 44,085,158 33,716,264 -10,368,894
Other 358,375 342,044 -16,331
Road transport 8,949 15,986 +7,037
Rail transport 925 0 -925

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 246,820,579
Dover / Eurotunnel 138,271,648
East Midlands Airport 33,956,377
London Stansted Airport 29,987,657
Immingham Docks 23,322,558

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 144,331,315 102,489,264 -41,842,051
Dover / Eurotunnel 76,189,878 62,081,770 -14,108,108
East Midlands Airport 18,493,193 15,463,184 -3,030,009
London Stansted Airport 13,745,177 16,242,480 +2,497,303
Immingham Docks 12,637,052 10,685,506 -1,951,546
Southampton 12,500,896 10,789,909 -1,710,987
London Gateway Port 11,915,572 7,889,057 -4,026,515
ZLC 9,689,883 7,605,758 -2,084,125
Felixstowe 6,267,087 3,473,986 -2,793,101
Holyhead 2,671,415 3,610,252 +938,837

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 8511

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

Description: Parts like spark plugs, ignition coils, and starter motors used in car or machinery engines