Import/export HS code 2106: General food preparations

Food products not listed elsewhere, including various ready-to-eat or ready-to-cook items

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 482,004,926
Netherlands 459,700,619
Denmark 394,431,847
Ireland 350,315,838
France 266,027,590

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 243,223,198 238,781,728 -4,441,470
Netherlands 233,296,870 226,403,749 -6,893,121
Denmark 205,458,911 188,972,936 -16,485,975
Ireland 182,301,332 168,014,506 -14,286,826
France 135,952,640 130,074,950 -5,877,690
Belgium 100,395,095 108,004,629 +7,609,534
United States 101,116,369 91,792,953 -9,323,416
China 71,091,965 76,647,418 +5,555,453
Italy 59,253,137 61,844,793 +2,591,656
Poland 50,882,544 49,014,643 -1,867,901

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 526,793,270
Denmark 400,964,473
Netherlands 314,887,337
Ireland 300,484,702
France 214,455,758

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 268,638,018 258,155,252 -10,482,766
Denmark 208,707,977 192,256,496 -16,451,481
Netherlands 157,443,339 157,443,998 +659
Ireland 158,371,267 142,113,435 -16,257,832
France 106,009,742 108,446,016 +2,436,274
United States 108,853,736 93,895,238 -14,958,498
China 79,182,901 84,407,301 +5,224,400
Belgium 74,348,764 79,533,775 +5,185,011
Italy 73,752,021 74,691,815 +939,794
Poland 59,555,727 59,451,321 -104,406

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 235
Outer London - West and North West 220
Inner London - East 199
Outer London - East and North East 134
Greater Manchester 127

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 181 177 -4
Outer London - West and North West 165 176 +11
Inner London - East 151 157 +6
Outer London - East and North East 100 107 +7
Greater Manchester 97 99 +2
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 97 95 -2
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 95 87 -8
Surrey, East and West Sussex 79 85 +6
West Midlands 74 68 -6
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 63 58 -5

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) 2,288,593,158
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 822,959,107
Air transport 228,112,499
Other 108,277,547
Road transport 11,579,536

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) 1,210,056,285 1,078,536,873 -131,519,412
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 362,486,040 460,473,067 +97,987,027
Air transport 112,290,572 115,821,927 +3,531,355
Other 54,887,519 53,390,028 -1,497,491
Road transport 5,470,932 6,108,604 +637,672
Rail transport 188,299 323,957 +135,658

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 690,297,431
Immingham Docks 586,403,582
Eurotunnel 317,915,687
Felixstowe 301,859,874
Liverpool Docks 246,433,053

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 341,918,732 348,378,699 +6,459,967
Immingham Docks 300,313,721 286,089,861 -14,223,860
Eurotunnel 157,098,345 160,817,342 +3,718,997
Felixstowe 161,677,352 140,182,522 -21,494,830
Liverpool Docks 137,001,086 109,431,967 -27,569,119
London 58,354,471 90,013,279 +31,658,808
Southampton 77,670,962 68,460,830 -9,210,132
Dover / Eurotunnel 63,349,406 53,766,665 -9,582,741
Hull 56,975,593 54,572,970 -2,402,623
000 54,887,519 53,390,028 -1,497,491

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 1088
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 614
Manufacture of food products 458
Food and beverage service activities 265
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 97

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 801
2025-10 803
2025-09 776
2025-08 775
2025-07 837

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 956
0-1m 749
54m+ 431
15m-54m 238
Other 131

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 323,576,868
Ireland 268,010,725
Germany 266,153,522
China 217,006,994
France 200,744,127

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 185,715,603 137,861,265 -47,854,338
Ireland 140,449,336 127,561,389 -12,887,947
Germany 142,807,725 123,345,797 -19,461,928
China 106,747,645 110,259,349 +3,511,704
France 105,151,946 95,592,181 -9,559,765
United States 93,255,744 93,724,872 +469,128
Australia 45,159,266 27,782,633 -17,376,633
Saudi Arabia 40,684,930 30,153,411 -10,531,519
United Arab Emirates 33,880,657 34,450,039 +569,382
Singapore 29,238,248 31,255,874 +2,017,626

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 54,626,384
XU 11,924,867
Ireland 2,188,296
Poland 1,540,288
Canada 1,458,662

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 26,674,359 27,952,025 +1,277,666
XU 6,478,297 5,446,570 -1,031,727
Ireland 1,125,126 1,063,170 -61,956
Poland 903,659 636,629 -267,030
Canada 909,087 549,575 -359,512
Italy 574,221 524,631 -49,590
Germany 530,135 441,323 -88,812
France 275,289 218,443 -56,846
Belgium 204,996 270,026 +65,030
Nicaragua 238,094 2,386 -235,708

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) 1,373,183,268
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 1,162,483,053
Air transport 237,259,942
Other 76,657,986
Rail transport 3,479,872

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) 710,482,894 662,700,374 -47,782,520
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 613,851,759 548,631,294 -65,220,465
Air transport 123,661,822 113,598,120 -10,063,702
Other 38,910,051 37,747,935 -1,162,116
Rail transport 1,337,555 2,142,317 +804,762
Road transport 1,296,273 16,932 -1,279,341

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 825,008,781
London Gateway Port 359,158,345
Southampton 232,516,894
Liverpool Docks 193,162,146
Immingham Docks 161,060,343

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 438,201,829 386,806,952 -51,394,877
London Gateway Port 164,610,805 194,547,540 +29,936,735
Southampton 116,709,453 115,807,441 -902,012
Liverpool Docks 126,041,627 67,120,519 -58,921,108
Immingham Docks 86,036,865 75,023,478 -11,013,387
London Heathrow Airport 79,491,715 72,375,069 -7,116,646
Felixstowe 68,076,377 61,828,139 -6,248,238
Hull 66,130,909 55,102,373 -11,028,536
Dover 66,440,828 46,044,902 -20,395,926
Holyhead 45,203,519 47,253,332 +2,049,813

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 2106

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

Description: Food products not listed elsewhere, including various ready-to-eat or ready-to-cook items