Import/export HS code 9013: Lasers and optical devices

Lasers (except laser diodes) and other optical tools not listed elsewhere

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 165,132,549
United States 163,420,475
France 43,067,578
China 39,794,058
Israel 31,927,489

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 85,430,224 79,702,325 -5,727,899
United States 82,407,817 81,012,658 -1,395,159
France 30,396,729 12,670,849 -17,725,880
China 17,667,627 22,126,431 +4,458,804
Israel 21,255,001 10,672,488 -10,582,513
Sri Lanka 14,921,751 15,460,885 +539,134
Malaysia 13,418,494 15,979,122 +2,560,628
Netherlands 11,566,237 13,354,466 +1,788,229
Canada 7,022,882 10,003,949 +2,981,067
Thailand 8,779,208 7,998,912 -780,296

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 Kingdom 129,681,973
United States 115,742,750
Germany 113,612,156
China 49,444,674
Canada 34,891,489

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 Kingdom 72,395,604 57,286,369 -15,109,235
United States 59,448,919 56,293,831 -3,155,088
Germany 55,745,094 57,867,062 +2,121,968
China 22,685,839 26,758,835 +4,072,996
Canada 10,878,723 24,012,766 +13,134,043
France 25,739,234 7,987,891 -17,751,343
Sri Lanka 15,946,501 15,967,056 +20,555
Israel 21,093,749 10,623,944 -10,469,805
Malaysia 12,965,330 15,693,456 +2,728,126
Thailand 12,359,819 13,424,209 +1,064,390

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 181
Inner London - West 116
Surrey, East and West Sussex 97
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 72
Greater Manchester 69

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 130 130 +0
Inner London - West 80 67 -13
Surrey, East and West Sussex 71 66 -5
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 53 51 -2
Greater Manchester 49 42 -7
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 50 42 -8
Outer London - West and North West 41 40 -1
West Midlands 45 41 -4
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 48 40 -8
Inner London - East 36 36 +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 527,579,181
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 116,473,725
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 58,182,963
Other 2,522,958
Road transport 1,310,430

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 256,183,293 271,395,888 +15,212,595
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 73,010,421 43,463,304 -29,547,117
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 31,771,479 26,411,484 -5,359,995
Other 1,142,639 1,380,319 +237,680
Road transport 651,540 658,890 +7,350

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 193,956,772
East Midlands Airport 112,362,797
London Stansted Airport 86,725,454
Dover 54,891,443
Birmingham Airport 46,691,476

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 93,160,643 100,796,129 +7,635,486
East Midlands Airport 51,934,659 60,428,138 +8,493,479
London Stansted Airport 44,494,764 42,230,690 -2,264,074
Dover 34,733,195 20,158,248 -14,574,947
Birmingham Airport 22,456,279 24,235,197 +1,778,918
Glasgow Airport 28,935,255 17,287,465 -11,647,790
Eurotunnel 27,622,231 13,622,129 -14,000,102
Thamesport 14,386,146 12,186,709 -2,199,437
Edinburgh Airport 9,648,016 5,751,138 -3,896,878
London Gateway Port 6,915,791 6,502,882 -412,909

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 354
Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products 209
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 187
Other manufacturing 119
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 115

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-04 289
2026-03 291
2026-02 289
2026-01 263
2025-12 272

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 639
54m+ 577
0-1m 211
15m-54m 181
Other 120

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 295,633,068
Germany 159,401,008
China 95,172,273
South Korea 62,951,944
France 61,393,146

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 157,790,618 137,842,450 -19,948,168
Germany 84,219,955 75,181,053 -9,038,902
China 39,766,886 55,405,387 +15,638,501
South Korea 23,756,592 39,195,352 +15,438,760
France 25,477,528 35,915,618 +10,438,090
Japan 21,125,874 19,647,530 -1,478,344
Italy 11,715,037 13,084,875 +1,369,838
Netherlands 13,126,005 11,156,889 -1,969,116
Canada 8,574,119 9,226,723 +652,604
Spain 6,897,982 8,346,194 +1,448,212

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 £
Nicaragua 207,111
China 7,983
Ireland 475
Germany 132
Spain 84

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 £
Nicaragua 201,842 5,269 -196,573
China 6,284 1,699 -4,585
Ireland 291 184 -107
Germany 132 0 -132
Spain 34 50 +16
Czechia 0 47 +47
Belgium 0 32 +32

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 774,686,243
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 184,745,337
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 4,762,124
Other 216,982
Road transport 163,870

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 394,840,382 379,845,861 -14,994,521
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 87,221,686 97,523,651 +10,301,965
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 2,498,729 2,263,395 -235,334
Other 208,583 8,399 -200,184
Road transport 125,451 38,419 -87,032

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 299,914,745
Glasgow Airport 202,054,913
Dover / Eurotunnel 167,311,692
East Midlands Airport 87,994,756
ZLC 76,339,251

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 119,810,480 180,104,265 +60,293,785
Glasgow Airport 121,808,860 80,246,053 -41,562,807
Dover / Eurotunnel 80,075,627 87,236,065 +7,160,438
East Midlands Airport 49,238,084 38,756,672 -10,481,412
ZLC 42,187,480 34,151,771 -8,035,709
London Stansted Airport 26,384,994 37,127,087 +10,742,093
Manchester Airport 25,736,246 4,075,693 -21,660,553
Dover 2,196,351 4,737,375 +2,541,024
Hull 3,312,908 3,555,637 +242,729
Edinburgh Airport 4,561,279 1,150,846 -3,410,433

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 9013

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

Description: Lasers (except laser diodes) and other optical tools not listed elsewhere