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 250,371,239
Germany 150,029,639
China 139,389,795
France 92,361,403
Japan 76,776,724

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 141,625,694 108,745,545 -32,880,149
Germany 80,564,819 69,464,820 -11,099,999
China 85,858,098 53,531,697 -32,326,401
France 57,930,234 34,431,169 -23,499,065
Japan 44,986,182 31,790,542 -13,195,640
Poland 26,309,316 20,800,192 -5,509,124
Belgium 24,466,900 21,227,553 -3,239,347
Turkey 23,054,882 22,397,819 -657,063
Netherlands 20,045,698 15,311,148 -4,734,550
Slovenia 15,682,409 16,312,912 +630,503

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 299,804,393
China 178,011,517
Japan 140,506,460
France 89,136,865
Turkey 49,875,895

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 167,047,654 132,756,739 -34,290,915
China 105,900,580 72,110,937 -33,789,643
Japan 79,343,581 61,162,879 -18,180,702
France 55,490,475 33,646,390 -21,844,085
Turkey 24,838,527 25,037,368 +198,841
Germany 24,505,722 19,809,717 -4,696,005
Slovenia 20,110,636 16,790,514 -3,320,122
India 15,767,073 15,814,041 +46,968
Poland 17,064,264 12,215,124 -4,849,140
Hungary 11,776,720 11,025,415 -751,305

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 92
West Midlands 70
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 64
Surrey, East and West Sussex 64
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 63

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 67 69 +2
West Midlands 51 54 +3
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 50 49 -1
Surrey, East and West Sussex 50 46 -4
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 48 41 -7
Inner London - West 43 42 -1
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 41 42 +1
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 43 40 -3
Essex 40 30 -10
Greater Manchester 31 31 +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 426,895,888
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 270,861,910
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 248,237,784
Other 105,453,684
Rail transport 10,220,564

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 237,741,179 189,154,709 -48,586,470
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 146,936,561 123,925,349 -23,011,212
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 130,458,907 117,778,877 -12,680,030
Other 75,282,697 30,170,987 -45,111,710
Rail transport 6,733,759 3,486,805 -3,246,954
Road transport 9,208,979 617,647 -8,591,332

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 257,772,704
000 105,453,684
Southampton 98,126,561
Felixstowe 82,493,328
Dover 76,194,128

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 148,184,757 109,587,947 -38,596,810
000 75,282,697 30,170,987 -45,111,710
Southampton 61,150,773 36,975,788 -24,174,985
Felixstowe 49,469,582 33,023,746 -16,445,836
Dover 38,543,120 37,651,008 -892,112
Birmingham Airport 35,032,933 27,691,480 -7,341,453
Eurotunnel 28,764,657 27,681,575 -1,083,082
Harwich 26,928,462 22,324,300 -4,604,162
East Midlands Airport 25,332,348 19,750,861 -5,581,487
499 9,214,905 29,113,496 +19,898,591

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 277
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 194
Repair and installation of machinery and equipment 95
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 68
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 67

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 298
2025-11 319
2025-10 335
2025-09 307
2025-08 293

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 463
54m+ 385
0-1m 137
15m-54m 126
Other 95

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 115,904,145
France 55,460,717
Germany 50,331,610
United Arab Emirates 43,127,365
Netherlands 41,313,779

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 63,904,881 51,999,264 -11,905,617
France 35,551,811 19,908,906 -15,642,905
Germany 26,101,729 24,229,881 -1,871,848
United Arab Emirates 22,573,547 20,553,818 -2,019,729
Netherlands 22,052,770 19,261,009 -2,791,761
India 20,717,752 11,468,097 -9,249,655
Poland 9,357,270 11,344,145 +1,986,875
Belgium 9,630,281 6,730,559 -2,899,722
Singapore 7,247,064 8,304,811 +1,057,747
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 7,061,202 7,828,868 +767,666

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 128,149
XI 123,999
Japan 84,594
Germany 63,665
Poland 47,261

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 88,056 40,093 -47,963
XI 79,051 44,948 -34,103
Japan 46,457 38,137 -8,320
Germany 35,855 27,810 -8,045
Poland 21,815 25,446 +3,631
Taiwan 7,171 32,888 +25,717
France 6,464 4,878 -1,586
Thailand 4,285 2,617 -1,668
Italy 3,367 2,697 -670
Slovenia 3,615 2,208 -1,407

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 341,545,258
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 162,946,024
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 77,435,626
Other 692,506
Road transport 268,539

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 187,582,211 153,963,047 -33,619,164
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 90,419,419 72,526,605 -17,892,814
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 42,484,054 34,951,572 -7,532,482
Other 389,453 303,053 -86,400
Road transport 252,553 15,986 -236,567
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 256,561,153
Dover / Eurotunnel 139,511,137
East Midlands Airport 33,256,887
London Stansted Airport 25,637,097
Immingham Docks 22,922,761

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 142,117,268 114,443,885 -27,673,383
Dover / Eurotunnel 78,037,199 61,473,938 -16,563,261
East Midlands Airport 19,362,708 13,894,179 -5,468,529
London Stansted Airport 12,752,905 12,884,192 +131,287
Immingham Docks 12,829,165 10,093,596 -2,735,569
Southampton 9,336,021 12,891,783 +3,555,762
London Gateway Port 11,304,338 8,819,517 -2,484,821
ZLC 10,045,402 7,369,987 -2,675,415
Felixstowe 7,662,772 2,745,856 -4,916,916
Holyhead 3,180,775 2,722,422 -458,353

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