Import/export HS code 1209: Seeds, fruit, and spores for planting

Seeds, fruits, or spores used for growing plants, including vegetables, flowers, and grasses

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 £
Netherlands 111,045,837
Germany 63,125,071
Denmark 47,531,545
France 30,169,658
Italy 18,470,804

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 £
Netherlands 57,113,777 53,932,060 -3,181,717
Germany 33,006,053 30,119,018 -2,887,035
Denmark 21,203,481 26,328,064 +5,124,583
France 14,692,569 15,477,089 +784,520
Italy 10,399,090 8,071,714 -2,327,376
United States 6,307,586 5,753,723 -553,863
New Zealand 3,715,239 5,024,087 +1,308,848
Israel 2,128,133 2,397,345 +269,212
Sweden 3,465,947 967,201 -2,498,746
Poland 1,832,346 2,054,277 +221,931

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 £
Denmark 64,548,970
Germany 51,740,557
France 32,248,835
Netherlands 31,591,933
United States 25,533,806

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 £
Denmark 31,463,416 33,085,554 +1,622,138
Germany 26,596,763 25,143,794 -1,452,969
France 18,088,787 14,160,048 -3,928,739
Netherlands 16,088,502 15,503,431 -585,071
United States 12,255,129 13,278,677 +1,023,548
New Zealand 10,526,874 11,435,513 +908,639
Italy 8,108,184 7,921,365 -186,819
Chile 5,953,805 5,504,321 -449,484
Poland 4,843,802 4,746,358 -97,444
Canada 5,265,753 3,998,872 -1,266,881

Importers across UK regions

What this shows: Number of importing companies by UK ITL2 region.

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Lincolnshire 23
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 14
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 14
Suffolk 10
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 9

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
Lincolnshire 15 21 +6
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 11 13 +2
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 11 10 -1
Suffolk 10 7 -3
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 8 8 +0
Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 7 7 +0
Lancashire 7 5 -2
Surrey, East and West Sussex 7 5 -2
Norfolk 7 3 -4
Shropshire and Staffordshire 4 6 +2

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) 187,667,194
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 76,877,046
Air transport 56,902,825
Other 1,847,043
Rail transport 347,453

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) 94,542,408 93,124,786 -1,417,622
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 39,899,512 36,977,534 -2,921,978
Air transport 27,841,460 29,061,365 +1,219,905
Other 757,202 1,089,841 +332,639
Rail transport 197,401 150,052 -47,349
Road transport 44,616 1,367 -43,249

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 72,028,007
Immingham Docks 68,446,031
Felixstowe 51,706,366
East Midlands Airport 28,060,417
Harwich 13,620,908

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 36,247,968 35,780,039 -467,929
Immingham Docks 33,092,601 35,353,430 +2,260,829
Felixstowe 26,277,511 25,428,855 -848,656
East Midlands Airport 13,252,138 14,808,279 +1,556,141
Harwich 5,627,277 7,993,631 +2,366,354
London Heathrow Airport 6,222,413 6,669,224 +446,811
Killingholme 8,813,335 3,846,270 -4,967,065
London 5,849,979 6,168,140 +318,161
London Stansted Airport 4,553,072 4,425,199 -127,873
Eurotunnel 3,107,377 4,403,483 +1,296,106

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 79
Crop and animal production, hunting and related service activities 74
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 33
Manufacture of food products 19
Other personal service activities 6

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 36
2025-10 41
2025-09 46
2025-08 46
2025-07 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
1m-15m 97
54m+ 47
0-1m 35
15m-54m 26
Other 7

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 £
Netherlands 10,723,830
Ireland 8,045,498
Spain 6,869,922
Australia 5,708,219
United States 5,513,259

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 £
Netherlands 4,764,593 5,959,237 +1,194,644
Ireland 3,691,029 4,354,469 +663,440
Spain 4,228,878 2,641,044 -1,587,834
Australia 3,199,792 2,508,427 -691,365
United States 3,311,121 2,202,138 -1,108,983
France 1,907,804 961,985 -945,819
Morocco 1,594,680 1,178,656 -416,024
Iran (Islamic Republic of) 1,332,672 885,768 -446,904
Canada 1,057,249 1,079,441 +22,192
Germany 836,354 1,091,444 +255,090

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 £
XI 345,135
Germany 25,131
China 19,506
Ireland 9,845
XU 2,857

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 £
XI 197,371 147,764 -49,607
Germany 14,550 10,581 -3,969
China 7,955 11,551 +3,596
Ireland 6,353 3,492 -2,861
XU 1,690 1,167 -523
United States 957 906 -51
Netherlands 0 854 +854
Belgium 421 0 -421
Poland 0 250 +250

Export volume by transport

What this shows: Export value by transport mode used to ship goods from the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 28,740,531
Air transport 22,559,048
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 11,091,972
Other 405,862
Road transport 256,980

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 £
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 12,982,495 15,758,036 +2,775,541
Air transport 12,829,297 9,729,751 -3,099,546
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 6,371,517 4,720,455 -1,651,062
Other 229,297 176,565 -52,732
Road transport 256,980 0 -256,980

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 15,730,901
London Heathrow Airport 11,839,433
Felixstowe 5,742,441
East Midlands Airport 5,249,198
London Gateway Port 5,203,435

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 £
Dover / Eurotunnel 7,705,461 8,025,440 +319,979
London Heathrow Airport 7,408,492 4,430,941 -2,977,551
Felixstowe 2,193,595 3,548,846 +1,355,251
East Midlands Airport 2,604,036 2,645,162 +41,126
London Gateway Port 2,989,843 2,213,592 -776,251
London Stansted Airport 2,204,826 1,840,662 -364,164
Holyhead 1,697,540 2,293,770 +596,230
Liverpool Docks 1,572,959 1,480,515 -92,444
Immingham Docks 843,785 676,011 -167,774
Southampton 902,425 448,270 -454,155

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 1209

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

Description: Seeds, fruits, or spores used for growing plants, including vegetables, flowers, and grasses