Import/export HS code 9012: Non-optical microscopes and diffraction devices

Microscopes that don’t use light, such as electron microscopes, and tools for studying light diffraction

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 49,468,426
Netherlands 38,698,263
Czechia 18,812,355
United States 17,267,273
Japan 10,493,310

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 23,271,054 26,197,372 +2,926,318
Netherlands 6,522,255 32,176,008 +25,653,753
Czechia 13,985,092 4,827,263 -9,157,829
United States 8,354,702 8,912,571 +557,869
Japan 6,263,876 4,229,434 -2,034,442
Switzerland 2,017,454 2,391,846 +374,392
Canada 1,700,718 1,728,887 +28,169
Austria 2,070,628 1,289,584 -781,044
France 1,154,994 1,150,302 -4,692
Ireland 964,740 1,308,848 +344,108

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 £
Germany 44,941,503
Netherlands 31,476,560
Czechia 17,875,164
United States 17,307,190
Japan 12,165,717

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 £
Germany 22,396,495 22,545,008 +148,513
Netherlands 3,668,231 27,808,329 +24,140,098
Czechia 13,169,473 4,705,691 -8,463,782
United States 7,895,494 9,411,696 +1,516,202
Japan 7,260,182 4,905,535 -2,354,647
United Kingdom 2,078,563 2,824,715 +746,152
Switzerland 2,206,482 2,656,601 +450,119
Austria 2,419,950 1,421,181 -998,769
Canada 1,690,703 1,469,822 -220,881
China 1,268,859 919,512 -349,347

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 49
Surrey, East and West Sussex 27
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 26
Inner London - East 20
Inner London - West 18

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 35 29 -6
Surrey, East and West Sussex 18 17 -1
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 22 18 -4
Inner London - East 12 12 +0
Inner London - West 13 9 -4
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 9 11 +2
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 9 10 +1
West Midlands 8 9 +1
Kent 8 6 -2
Outer London - West and North West 8 8 +0

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) 78,311,546
Air transport 64,630,736
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 9,616,951
Other 6,906,147
Road transport 74,607

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) 32,417,611 45,893,935 +13,476,324
Air transport 30,619,730 34,011,006 +3,391,276
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 5,355,455 4,261,496 -1,093,959
Other 3,194,300 3,711,847 +517,547
Road transport 19,356 55,251 +35,895

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 32,035,840
East Midlands Airport 25,546,320
London Heathrow Airport 18,922,645
London Stansted Airport 14,708,366
Immingham Docks 12,206,727

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 £
Dover 16,432,253 15,603,587 -828,666
East Midlands Airport 13,290,103 12,256,217 -1,033,886
London Heathrow Airport 6,596,369 12,326,276 +5,729,907
London Stansted Airport 8,389,143 6,319,223 -2,069,920
Immingham Docks 817,054 11,389,673 +10,572,619
Harwich 3,134,344 8,664,074 +5,529,730
Eurotunnel 7,401,872 2,523,376 -4,878,496
Felixstowe 1,646,291 5,358,983 +3,712,692
000 3,194,300 3,711,847 +517,547
Southampton 4,069,688 2,254,728 -1,814,960

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
83
Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products
50
Other professional, scientific and technical activities
36
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles
35
Scientific research and development
27

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-05 56
2026-04 44
2026-03 54
2026-02 47
2026-01 39

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+ 129
1m-15m 126
0-1m 51
Other 30
15m-54m 27

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 £
China 134,646,238
Germany 57,158,421
United States 25,032,403
Netherlands 17,374,778
South Korea 10,365,064

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 £
China 78,530,179 56,116,059 -22,414,120
Germany 32,000,194 25,158,227 -6,841,967
United States 15,214,295 9,818,108 -5,396,187
Netherlands 4,811,800 12,562,978 +7,751,178
South Korea 4,347,991 6,017,073 +1,669,082
India 4,611,037 3,744,497 -866,540
France 3,820,417 3,359,360 -461,057
Italy 3,539,660 2,896,385 -643,275
Japan 2,546,664 3,662,979 +1,116,315
Taiwan 2,533,260 3,097,514 +564,254

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 £
Ireland 1,461,358
Netherlands 1,320,109
XI 167,248
United States 72,097
Italy 37,359

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 £
Ireland 362,482 1,098,876 +736,394
Netherlands 621,004 699,105 +78,101
XI 165,243 2,005 -163,238
United States 72,097 0 -72,097
Italy 37,359 0 -37,359
France 878 0 -878

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 233,940,673
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 85,873,241
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 6,359,678
Other 3,279,653
Road transport 33,205

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 127,255,859 106,684,814 -20,571,045
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 43,653,306 42,219,935 -1,433,371
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 3,507,709 2,851,969 -655,740
Other 1,362,010 1,917,643 +555,633
Road transport 13,144 20,061 +6,917

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 184,338,375
Dover / Eurotunnel 70,526,215
ZLC 17,878,457
East Midlands Airport 16,220,838
London Stansted Airport 11,254,144

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 100,642,323 83,696,052 -16,946,271
Dover / Eurotunnel 39,147,612 31,378,603 -7,769,009
ZLC 9,171,149 8,707,308 -463,841
East Midlands Airport 7,970,041 8,250,797 +280,756
London Stansted Airport 7,036,374 4,217,770 -2,818,604
Harwich 1,703,641 8,557,525 +6,853,884
London Gateway Port 1,542,680 2,037,408 +494,728
000 1,362,010 1,917,643 +555,633
Felixstowe 1,979,632 263,409 -1,716,223
Manchester Airport 441,627 1,356,008 +914,381

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 9012

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

Description: Microscopes that don’t use light, such as electron microscopes, and tools for studying light diffraction