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 51,435,019
Netherlands 38,991,075
Czechia 22,563,453
United States 18,562,105
Japan 11,133,296

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 22,502,559 28,932,460 +6,429,901
Netherlands 6,726,655 32,264,420 +25,537,765
Czechia 17,092,823 5,470,630 -11,622,193
United States 9,376,630 9,185,475 -191,155
Japan 6,837,389 4,295,907 -2,541,482
Switzerland 1,869,482 2,495,448 +625,966
Canada 1,733,767 1,940,593 +206,826
Austria 1,995,725 1,535,674 -460,051
Ireland 854,746 1,350,539 +495,793
France 678,040 1,522,584 +844,544

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 47,017,755
Netherlands 31,806,387
Czechia 21,166,708
United States 18,255,189
Japan 12,867,185

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 21,988,146 25,029,609 +3,041,463
Netherlands 4,027,000 27,779,387 +23,752,387
Czechia 15,741,821 5,424,887 -10,316,934
United States 8,562,216 9,692,973 +1,130,757
Japan 7,304,543 5,562,642 -1,741,901
United Kingdom 2,475,496 2,991,704 +516,208
Switzerland 2,059,084 2,782,795 +723,711
Austria 2,250,045 1,757,705 -492,340
Canada 1,730,437 1,673,950 -56,487
China 1,061,161 818,623 -242,538

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 50
Surrey, East and West Sussex 28
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 27
Inner London - West 21
Inner London - East 19

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 36 30 -6
Surrey, East and West Sussex 16 19 +3
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 21 19 -2
Inner London - West 15 11 -4
Inner London - East 12 11 -1
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 10 11 +1
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 10 10 +0
West Midlands 10 7 -3
Outer London - West and North West 8 9 +1
Kent 9 6 -3

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) 82,115,773
Air transport 68,540,876
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 9,987,689
Other 7,249,900
Road transport 172,107

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) 33,512,883 48,602,890 +15,090,007
Air transport 32,351,984 36,188,892 +3,836,908
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 5,864,106 4,123,583 -1,740,523
Other 3,304,328 3,945,572 +641,244
Road transport 116,856 55,251 -61,605

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 34,125,051
East Midlands Airport 27,104,900
London Heathrow Airport 18,874,905
London Stansted Airport 16,691,933
Harwich 13,507,607

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 16,368,598 17,756,453 +1,387,855
East Midlands Airport 13,725,074 13,379,826 -345,248
London Heathrow Airport 6,656,673 12,218,232 +5,561,559
London Stansted Airport 9,510,672 7,181,261 -2,329,411
Harwich 4,843,533 8,664,074 +3,820,541
Immingham Docks 882,404 11,786,849 +10,904,445
Eurotunnel 7,160,985 2,681,551 -4,479,434
000 3,304,328 3,945,572 +641,244
Felixstowe 1,646,960 5,036,705 +3,389,745
Southampton 4,503,795 2,141,121 -2,362,674

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 88
Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products 50
Other professional, scientific and technical activities 37
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 35
Scientific research and development 26

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-04 44
2026-03 54
2026-02 47
2026-01 39
2025-12 51

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+ 130
1m-15m 126
0-1m 50
Other 31
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 143,056,495
Germany 60,689,096
United States 26,188,626
Netherlands 17,333,917
South Korea 10,082,014

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 78,521,666 64,534,829 -13,986,837
Germany 32,916,176 27,772,920 -5,143,256
United States 14,826,278 11,362,348 -3,463,930
Netherlands 4,225,195 13,108,722 +8,883,527
South Korea 4,275,634 5,806,380 +1,530,746
India 4,109,141 4,705,529 +596,388
France 4,209,287 3,589,037 -620,250
Taiwan 3,378,018 3,775,069 +397,051
Italy 3,362,561 3,217,079 -145,482
Japan 2,224,095 4,338,815 +2,114,720

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 1,381,796
Netherlands 1,295,815
XI 167,871
United States 72,097
Italy 53,975

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 207,807 1,173,989 +966,182
Netherlands 658,981 636,834 -22,147
XI 163,491 4,380 -159,111
United States 72,097 0 -72,097
Italy 53,975 0 -53,975
France 1,098 0 -1,098

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 246,419,135
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 90,095,465
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 7,109,732
Other 3,192,446
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 127,905,605 118,513,530 -9,392,075
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 42,317,291 47,778,174 +5,460,883
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 3,394,031 3,715,701 +321,670
Other 1,248,473 1,943,973 +695,500
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 194,528,145
Dover / Eurotunnel 74,669,250
ZLC 18,413,779
East Midlands Airport 16,544,930
London Stansted Airport 12,114,757

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 100,784,778 93,743,367 -7,041,411
Dover / Eurotunnel 39,265,789 35,403,461 -3,862,328
ZLC 8,639,470 9,774,309 +1,134,839
East Midlands Airport 8,219,880 8,325,050 +105,170
London Stansted Airport 7,245,283 4,869,474 -2,375,809
Harwich 1,204,714 9,056,452 +7,851,738
London Gateway Port 1,364,821 2,207,348 +842,527
000 1,248,473 1,943,973 +695,500
Felixstowe 1,614,080 1,259,783 -354,297
Belfast Airport 1,817,164 63,430 -1,753,734

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