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 £
Netherlands 1,318,629,682
Germany 1,313,613,824
Belgium 1,002,774,026
Ivory Coast 828,594,173
Poland 783,825,276

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 606,339,181 712,290,501 +105,951,320
Germany 622,351,108 691,262,716 +68,911,608
Belgium 486,695,954 516,078,072 +29,382,118
Ivory Coast 362,137,211 466,456,962 +104,319,751
Poland 384,239,818 399,585,458 +15,345,640
France 388,952,817 390,559,683 +1,606,866
Ireland 266,049,191 297,987,180 +31,937,989
Italy 235,947,136 267,860,224 +31,913,088
Switzerland 84,518,983 82,479,150 -2,039,833
Ghana 40,210,252 98,316,463 +58,106,211

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 1,377,447,935
Netherlands 1,262,125,134
Ivory Coast 830,320,483
Poland 794,191,931
Belgium 700,506,758

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 650,288,167 727,159,768 +76,871,601
Netherlands 552,256,291 709,868,843 +157,612,552
Ivory Coast 379,774,308 450,546,175 +70,771,867
Poland 391,400,576 402,791,355 +11,390,779
Belgium 360,850,051 339,656,707 -21,193,344
France 263,587,739 306,420,955 +42,833,216
Italy 207,728,006 239,876,333 +32,148,327
Ireland 202,804,227 241,585,513 +38,781,286
Switzerland 98,278,817 108,938,034 +10,659,217
Ghana 54,795,526 118,596,462 +63,800,936

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Outer London - West and North West 138
Inner London - West 136
Inner London - East 118
Greater Manchester 102
Outer London - East and North East 89

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
Outer London - West and North West 105 111 +6
Inner London - West 102 104 +2
Inner London - East 93 93 +0
Greater Manchester 85 53 -32
Outer London - East and North East 71 71 +0
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 58 60 +2
Surrey, East and West Sussex 34 49 +15
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 45 44 -1
Essex 35 32 -3
Outer London - South 35 33 -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) 5,858,973,848
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 1,746,721,479
Other 498,955,136
Road transport 72,083,059
Air transport 35,251,804

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) 2,845,949,239 3,013,024,609 +167,075,370
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 716,588,426 1,030,133,053 +313,544,627
Other 233,967,130 264,988,006 +31,020,876
Road transport 16,851,354 55,231,705 +38,380,351
Air transport 15,010,797 20,241,007 +5,230,210
Rail transport 447,815 2,909,302 +2,461,487

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 2,314,821,296
Eurotunnel 947,631,802
Liverpool Docks 938,451,558
Immingham Docks 909,670,914
London 718,198,965

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 1,155,958,677 1,158,862,619 +2,903,942
Eurotunnel 447,890,876 499,740,926 +51,850,050
Liverpool Docks 392,189,687 546,261,871 +154,072,184
Immingham Docks 408,378,717 501,292,197 +92,913,480
London 324,935,989 393,262,976 +68,326,987
000 233,942,991 264,766,831 +30,823,840
Dover / Eurotunnel 209,741,016 243,784,243 +34,043,227
Middlesbrough 96,155,675 150,534,880 +54,379,205
London Gateway Port 79,704,414 120,515,637 +40,811,223
Felixstowe 77,682,048 107,719,241 +30,037,193

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 671
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 411
Manufacture of food products 263
Food and beverage service activities 137
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 69

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 426
2025-11 513
2025-10 525
2025-09 474
2025-08 413

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 601
0-1m 398
54m+ 240
15m-54m 127
Other 96

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 730,668,283
Netherlands 303,029,347
Poland 202,598,084
Belgium 164,132,912
Germany 121,111,867

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 334,085,561 396,582,722 +62,497,161
Netherlands 178,537,075 124,492,272 -54,044,803
Poland 102,211,081 100,387,003 -1,824,078
Belgium 52,216,704 111,916,208 +59,699,504
Germany 45,603,486 75,508,381 +29,904,895
United States 42,341,163 44,604,954 +2,263,791
France 34,963,097 50,819,604 +15,856,507
Saudi Arabia 35,732,933 19,219,248 -16,513,685
United Arab Emirates 27,425,843 23,698,879 -3,726,964
Canada 24,492,903 25,245,859 +752,956

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 18,135,745
Ireland 8,420,437
Poland 3,432,092
France 3,342,014
Italy 1,639,914

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 8,719,289 9,416,456 +697,167
Ireland 4,394,882 4,025,555 -369,327
Poland 2,152,055 1,280,037 -872,018
France 650,071 2,691,943 +2,041,872
Italy 773,227 866,687 +93,460
Belgium 764,802 761,340 -3,462
Germany 703,308 719,226 +15,918
Netherlands 750,694 655,257 -95,437
Luxembourg 261,582 743,444 +481,862
Switzerland 343,662 298,676 -44,986

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) 1,698,627,826
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 535,931,383
Other 70,582,406
Air transport 33,578,445
Road transport 260,440

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) 779,188,295 919,439,531 +140,251,236
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 293,870,759 242,060,624 -51,810,135
Other 35,796,880 34,785,526 -1,011,354
Air transport 16,764,775 16,813,670 +48,895
Road transport 251,560 8,880 -242,680
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 753,009,562
Liverpool Docks 504,148,132
London Gateway Port 246,210,826
Holyhead 214,708,281
Immingham Docks 140,029,883

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 349,168,845 403,840,717 +54,671,872
Liverpool Docks 254,214,007 249,934,125 -4,279,882
London Gateway Port 142,356,787 103,854,039 -38,502,748
Holyhead 72,835,883 141,872,398 +69,036,515
Immingham Docks 79,448,513 60,581,370 -18,867,143
Southampton 46,174,784 45,683,741 -491,043
Felixstowe 43,977,303 44,149,417 +172,114
000 35,783,780 34,659,887 -1,123,893
Dover 21,263,787 24,758,708 +3,494,921
Middlesbrough 18,088,378 25,247,231 +7,158,853

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