Import/export HS code 18: Cocoa and cocoa products

All types of cocoa items, including cocoa beans, cocoa powder, and chocolate preparations

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 1,311,999,783
Netherlands 1,306,170,523
Belgium 977,453,904
France 781,033,692
Poland 780,805,391

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 623,718,727 688,281,056 +64,562,329
Netherlands 579,883,898 726,286,625 +146,402,727
Belgium 479,961,202 497,492,702 +17,531,500
France 382,637,830 398,395,862 +15,758,032
Poland 384,014,256 396,791,135 +12,776,879
Ivory Coast 313,290,563 442,569,471 +129,278,908
Ireland 262,862,328 295,701,816 +32,839,488
Italy 250,150,281 262,795,879 +12,645,598
Switzerland 82,351,977 85,814,820 +3,462,843
Ghana 40,159,500 97,352,605 +57,193,105

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 1,354,729,150
Netherlands 1,248,639,915
Poland 789,986,697
Ivory Coast 763,155,396
Belgium 697,722,330

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 648,977,798 705,751,352 +56,773,554
Netherlands 524,461,523 724,178,392 +199,716,869
Poland 391,287,801 398,698,896 +7,411,095
Ivory Coast 337,878,139 425,277,257 +87,399,118
Belgium 359,368,864 338,353,466 -21,015,398
France 256,769,217 309,771,145 +53,001,928
Italy 215,030,842 236,835,461 +21,804,619
Ireland 200,846,528 241,243,545 +40,397,017
Switzerland 95,458,978 109,107,924 +13,648,946
Ghana 54,509,731 117,912,609 +63,402,878

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 137
Outer London - West and North West 136
Inner London - East 119
Greater Manchester 100
Outer London - East and North East 90

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
Inner London - West 104 104 +0
Outer London - West and North West 105 112 +7
Inner London - East 95 91 -4
Greater Manchester 74 70 -4
Outer London - East and North East 72 71 -1
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 58 58 +0
Surrey, East and West Sussex 29 49 +20
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 44 43 -1
Essex 35 34 -1
West Yorkshire 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 £
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 5,817,759,259
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 1,668,086,685
Other 506,919,690
Road transport 70,031,754
Air transport 34,836,978

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) 2,810,349,811 3,007,409,448 +197,059,637
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 674,397,789 993,688,896 +319,291,107
Other 240,037,856 266,881,834 +26,843,978
Road transport 16,410,164 53,621,590 +37,211,426
Air transport 14,470,814 20,366,164 +5,895,350
Rail transport 330,428 3,002,590 +2,672,162

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 2,318,178,202
Eurotunnel 941,374,017
Immingham Docks 896,270,850
Liverpool Docks 887,652,089
London 698,064,948

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 1,159,944,030 1,158,234,172 -1,709,858
Eurotunnel 444,165,275 497,208,742 +53,043,467
Immingham Docks 399,421,479 496,849,371 +97,427,892
Liverpool Docks 363,870,991 523,781,098 +159,910,107
London 309,063,766 389,001,182 +79,937,416
000 240,020,218 266,734,018 +26,713,800
Dover / Eurotunnel 202,767,370 245,822,544 +43,055,174
Middlesbrough 90,352,844 151,350,289 +60,997,445
Felixstowe 75,645,523 105,820,206 +30,174,683
London Gateway Port 74,069,306 105,020,055 +30,950,749

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 664
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 419
Manufacture of food products 260
Food and beverage service activities 139
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 68

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 513
2025-10 525
2025-09 474
2025-08 413
2025-07 425

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 599
0-1m 404
54m+ 236
15m-54m 125
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 £
Ireland 733,881,425
Netherlands 308,684,805
Poland 201,832,321
Belgium 160,108,250
Germany 116,384,105

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 £
Ireland 326,034,314 407,847,111 +81,812,797
Netherlands 183,174,743 125,510,062 -57,664,681
Poland 98,537,114 103,295,207 +4,758,093
Belgium 45,069,911 115,038,339 +69,968,428
Germany 44,213,462 72,170,643 +27,957,181
France 33,056,337 52,493,603 +19,437,266
United States 40,212,845 45,253,497 +5,040,652
Saudi Arabia 36,072,863 19,641,057 -16,431,806
United Arab Emirates 27,174,518 24,522,032 -2,652,486
Canada 24,453,592 24,481,279 +27,687

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 £
XU 26,966,183
XI 17,956,239
Ireland 8,540,548
Poland 3,510,982
France 3,163,804

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 £
XU 14,464,952 12,501,231 -1,963,721
XI 8,760,341 9,195,898 +435,557
Ireland 4,320,676 4,219,872 -100,804
Poland 2,087,204 1,423,778 -663,426
France 665,164 2,498,640 +1,833,476
Italy 773,192 898,421 +125,229
Belgium 759,029 799,295 +40,266
Germany 673,576 757,613 +84,037
Netherlands 727,169 641,947 -85,222
Luxembourg 275,988 742,950 +466,962

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) 1,691,462,506
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 543,512,354
Other 71,119,512
Air transport 33,849,133
Road transport 277,586

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) 752,721,688 938,740,818 +186,019,130
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 296,215,936 247,296,418 -48,919,518
Other 35,603,048 35,516,464 -86,584
Air transport 17,287,057 16,562,076 -724,981
Road transport 268,706 8,880 -259,826
Rail transport 251,499 3,760 -247,739

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 751,128,162
Liverpool Docks 510,853,909
London Gateway Port 246,095,335
Holyhead 209,998,789
Immingham Docks 137,605,704

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 337,321,041 413,807,121 +76,486,080
Liverpool Docks 250,055,430 260,798,479 +10,743,049
London Gateway Port 134,846,711 111,248,624 -23,598,087
Holyhead 69,121,655 140,877,134 +71,755,479
Immingham Docks 77,585,899 60,019,805 -17,566,094
Southampton 47,718,536 44,403,277 -3,315,259
Felixstowe 45,097,310 44,210,841 -886,469
000 35,589,948 35,493,515 -96,433
Dover 21,376,204 24,570,384 +3,194,180
Middlesbrough 17,806,964 23,367,382 +5,560,418

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 18

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

Description: All types of cocoa items, including cocoa beans, cocoa powder, and chocolate preparations