Import/export HS code 2505: Natural sands

Sands found in nature, used in construction, glass-making, and other industries

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 16,073,694
Germany 13,516,678
Belgium 10,799,480
Ireland 9,803,957
United States 4,714,358

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 8,066,178 8,007,516 -58,662
Germany 4,856,951 8,659,727 +3,802,776
Belgium 5,838,657 4,960,823 -877,834
Ireland 5,045,809 4,758,148 -287,661
United States 2,420,087 2,294,271 -125,816
Denmark 1,589,281 2,350,704 +761,423
Portugal 1,485,209 1,675,103 +189,894
France 915,323 899,645 -15,678
Canada 1,151,952 635,348 -516,604
China 348,403 465,220 +116,817

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 12,832,843
Belgium 9,862,883
Netherlands 8,866,116
Australia 7,824,658
Ireland 6,922,463

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 4,586,453 8,246,390 +3,659,937
Belgium 5,389,441 4,473,442 -915,999
Netherlands 4,028,804 4,837,312 +808,508
Australia 4,165,385 3,659,273 -506,112
Ireland 3,716,015 3,206,448 -509,567
United States 2,564,695 2,483,275 -81,420
Denmark 1,813,749 2,517,001 +703,252
Canada 1,134,582 618,041 -516,541
Portugal 881,844 768,730 -113,114
France 856,663 760,314 -96,349

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 11
West Yorkshire 5
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 4
Shropshire and Staffordshire 4
Surrey, East and West Sussex 4

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
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 8 10 +2
West Yorkshire 5 3 -2
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 4 4 +0
Shropshire and Staffordshire 3 3 +0
Surrey, East and West Sussex 3 3 +0
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 1 2 +1
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 2 2 +0
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 2 3 +1
East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire 2 2 +0
Greater Manchester 3 0 -3

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) 33,268,268
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 29,657,969
Other 4,620,024
Air transport 540,234
Road transport 9,856

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) 17,110,153 16,158,115 -952,038
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 13,184,454 16,473,515 +3,289,061
Other 2,010,086 2,609,938 +599,852
Air transport 188,109 352,125 +164,016
Road transport 3,535 6,321 +2,786

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Immingham Docks 9,285,746
Blyth Harbour 7,000,135
Southampton 5,790,889
Holyhead 5,494,782
Dover 4,899,910

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 £
Immingham Docks 4,748,200 4,537,546 -210,654
Blyth Harbour 2,132,304 4,867,831 +2,735,527
Southampton 3,396,093 2,394,796 -1,001,297
Holyhead 2,889,197 2,605,585 -283,612
Dover 2,608,212 2,291,698 -316,514
000 2,010,086 2,609,938 +599,852
Felixstowe 1,888,334 2,247,745 +359,411
Goole 1,404,448 2,165,162 +760,714
London 1,433,968 2,123,210 +689,242
Eurotunnel 1,331,531 1,464,752 +133,221

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 29
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 13
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products 7
Other manufacturing 4
Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities 3

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 15
2025-10 23
2025-09 14
2025-08 20
2025-07 21

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 26
54m+ 22
0-1m 13
15m-54m 12
Other 5

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 12,680,899
China 3,332,931
India 3,029,837
Germany 1,189,278
Thailand 1,002,940

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 6,189,013 6,491,886 +302,873
China 991,210 2,341,721 +1,350,511
India 1,287,157 1,742,680 +455,523
Germany 1,060,716 128,562 -932,154
Thailand 257,636 745,304 +487,668
Poland 272,581 427,488 +154,907
United Arab Emirates 54,739 466,366 +411,627
Saudi Arabia 213,304 193,033 -20,271
France 111,245 283,302 +172,057
Sweden 141,656 211,909 +70,253

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 10,216,866
Ireland 248,793
XU 71,559
Spain 21,137
China 14,765

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 4,931,673 5,285,193 +353,520
Ireland 122,456 126,337 +3,881
XU 36,616 34,943 -1,673
Spain 21,137 0 -21,137
China 8,518 6,247 -2,271
Germany 4,305 3,002 -1,303
Italy 2,098 0 -2,098
South Africa 749 929 +180
Malaysia 616 881 +265
Turkey 455 305 -150

Export volume by transport

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

Top 5 values

Transport £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 10,886,290
Other 10,586,868
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 6,591,771
Air transport 441,872
Rail transport 8,360

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 £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 4,325,809 6,560,481 +2,234,672
Other 5,128,845 5,458,023 +329,178
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 3,140,054 3,451,717 +311,663
Air transport 237,202 204,670 -32,532
Rail transport 8,360 0 -8,360
Road transport 6,157 0 -6,157

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
000 10,586,868
Southampton 4,658,409
Dover / Eurotunnel 3,427,054
Felixstowe 3,305,099
London Gateway Port 2,106,805

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 £
000 5,128,845 5,458,023 +329,178
Southampton 1,625,672 3,032,737 +1,407,065
Dover / Eurotunnel 1,769,460 1,657,594 -111,866
Felixstowe 1,406,787 1,898,312 +491,525
London Gateway Port 751,022 1,355,783 +604,761
Liverpool Docks 488,122 599,271 +111,149
Immingham Docks 291,112 575,344 +284,232
Holyhead 300,703 280,493 -20,210
Heysham 170,536 160,702 -9,834
Dover 186,679 27,104 -159,575

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 2505

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

Description: Sands found in nature, used in construction, glass-making, and other industries