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 249,419,620
Germany 169,595,397
China 144,371,663
France 88,716,736
Japan 81,395,468

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 141,943,848 107,475,772 -34,468,076
Germany 82,551,749 87,043,648 +4,491,899
China 85,323,258 59,048,405 -26,274,853
France 48,209,543 40,507,193 -7,702,350
Japan 41,870,564 39,524,904 -2,345,660
Turkey 25,375,307 27,623,676 +2,248,369
Poland 26,645,857 25,274,475 -1,371,382
Belgium 23,366,053 26,925,952 +3,559,899
Netherlands 19,840,025 18,215,733 -1,624,292
Slovenia 15,620,472 20,291,371 +4,670,899

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 303,717,814
China 190,572,760
Japan 149,050,197
France 93,906,277
Turkey 57,921,197

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 165,392,891 138,324,923 -27,067,968
China 106,855,184 83,717,576 -23,137,608
Japan 76,975,141 72,075,056 -4,900,085
France 50,450,256 43,456,021 -6,994,235
Turkey 27,155,319 30,765,878 +3,610,559
Germany 24,395,448 23,773,231 -622,217
Slovenia 19,786,278 18,359,450 -1,426,828
India 16,611,297 20,987,469 +4,376,172
Poland 16,640,504 12,939,509 -3,700,995
Hungary 11,784,978 15,824,557 +4,039,579

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 96
Surrey, East and West Sussex 68
West Midlands 68
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 67
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 66

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 79 +13
Surrey, East and West Sussex 52 50 -2
West Midlands 51 50 -1
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 47 57 +10
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 50 43 -7
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 43 48 +5
Inner London - West 42 46 +4
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 43 45 +2
Essex 39 35 -4
Greater Manchester 30 29 -1

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 444,130,097
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 296,000,482
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 283,961,442
Other 92,505,471
Rail transport 12,435,073

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 236,197,784 207,932,313 -28,265,471
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 147,330,910 148,669,572 +1,338,662
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 130,246,651 153,714,791 +23,468,140
Other 73,027,949 19,477,522 -53,550,427
Rail transport 6,716,573 5,718,500 -998,073
Road transport 3,908,193 1,145,741 -2,762,452

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 256,648,167
Southampton 103,351,716
000 92,505,471
Dover 85,648,386
Felixstowe 85,047,891

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 147,067,602 109,580,565 -37,487,037
Southampton 59,174,635 44,177,081 -14,997,554
000 73,027,949 19,477,522 -53,550,427
Dover 41,806,927 43,841,459 +2,034,532
Felixstowe 49,454,031 35,593,860 -13,860,171
Birmingham Airport 32,193,852 32,335,016 +141,164
Eurotunnel 27,853,454 33,474,137 +5,620,683
499 3,687,507 53,928,682 +50,241,175
Harwich 27,422,665 24,832,560 -2,590,105
East Midlands Airport 25,435,180 25,625,786 +190,606

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 289
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 196
Repair and installation of machinery and equipment 96
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 77
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 67

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-04 314
2026-03 325
2026-02 326
2026-01 299
2025-12 299

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 469
54m+ 396
0-1m 147
15m-54m 135
Other 101

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 119,115,823
France 58,560,031
Germany 56,794,552
Netherlands 43,757,028
United Arab Emirates 42,567,635

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 60,128,826 58,986,997 -1,141,829
France 38,057,565 20,502,466 -17,555,099
Germany 25,707,301 31,087,251 +5,379,950
Netherlands 23,221,452 20,535,576 -2,685,876
United Arab Emirates 27,100,612 15,467,023 -11,633,589
India 20,444,375 11,412,883 -9,031,492
Poland 8,862,822 12,577,278 +3,714,456
Singapore 7,511,635 11,770,033 +4,258,398
Belgium 9,096,405 9,113,909 +17,504
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 7,143,612 9,340,070 +2,196,458

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 137,191
XI 113,463
Japan 104,493
Germany 69,138
Poland 55,367

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 84,843 52,348 -32,495
XI 76,290 37,173 -39,117
Japan 44,844 59,649 +14,805
Germany 30,891 38,247 +7,356
Poland 24,816 30,551 +5,735
Taiwan 7,863 35,582 +27,719
France 6,623 7,230 +607
Thailand 4,390 5,433 +1,043
Turkey 1,654 6,640 +4,986
Italy 3,436 4,587 +1,151

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 361,806,090
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 171,934,771
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 81,980,939
Other 746,597
Road transport 120,885

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 193,943,476 167,862,614 -26,080,862
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 88,447,563 83,487,208 -4,960,355
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 42,935,491 39,045,448 -3,890,043
Other 372,754 373,843 +1,089
Road transport 104,899 15,986 -88,913
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 266,822,876
Dover / Eurotunnel 145,983,735
East Midlands Airport 35,753,789
London Stansted Airport 30,360,485
Immingham Docks 25,081,687

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 148,165,999 118,656,877 -29,509,122
Dover / Eurotunnel 76,840,001 69,143,734 -7,696,267
East Midlands Airport 18,548,034 17,205,755 -1,342,279
London Stansted Airport 13,280,689 17,079,796 +3,799,107
Immingham Docks 12,823,958 12,257,729 -566,229
Southampton 10,322,082 13,515,912 +3,193,830
London Gateway Port 11,770,830 9,378,356 -2,392,474
ZLC 10,233,865 8,374,151 -1,859,714
Felixstowe 7,174,082 3,254,389 -3,919,693
Holyhead 2,655,304 3,640,604 +985,300

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