Import/export HS code 27101981: Motor and lube oils

Oils used in engines, compressors, and turbines for lubrication

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 £
Belgium 190,777,322
Netherlands 115,678,430
Germany 91,814,424
United Arab Emirates 52,631,361
France 49,156,351

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 £
Belgium 100,330,665 90,446,657 -9,884,008
Netherlands 61,640,772 54,037,658 -7,603,114
Germany 49,063,546 42,750,878 -6,312,668
United Arab Emirates 38,813,189 13,818,172 -24,995,017
France 29,401,467 19,754,884 -9,646,583
Italy 6,340,944 3,816,792 -2,524,152
Spain 4,638,372 4,301,642 -336,730
Poland 2,242,877 2,322,074 +79,197
Lithuania 3,233,273 474,092 -2,759,181
Turkey 1,550,968 1,873,022 +322,054

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 £
Belgium 164,870,558
Netherlands 105,060,247
Germany 91,557,934
France 69,602,296
United Arab Emirates 52,986,950

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 £
Belgium 82,355,959 82,514,599 +158,640
Netherlands 62,788,445 42,271,802 -20,516,643
Germany 50,143,565 41,414,369 -8,729,196
France 37,160,664 32,441,632 -4,719,032
United Arab Emirates 39,035,723 13,951,227 -25,084,496
Italy 8,894,209 6,814,481 -2,079,728
Spain 6,755,855 6,256,385 -499,470
Canada 2,223,315 2,154,411 -68,904
Lithuania 3,238,388 565,163 -2,673,225
Sweden 2,272,026 1,511,799 -760,227

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 6
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 6
Surrey, East and West Sussex 5
Cheshire 4
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 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
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 4 4 +0
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 6 4 -2
Surrey, East and West Sussex 3 4 +1
Cheshire 2 3 +1
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 3 4 +1
Inner London - East 3 2 -1
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 4 2 -2
West Midlands 2 3 +1
West Yorkshire 2 3 +1
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 2 1 -1

Import volume by transport

What this shows: Import value by transport mode used to bring goods into the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 272,729,085
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 260,699,669
Air transport 5,122,739
Other 2,575,791
Rail transport 1,354,451

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 £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 150,914,104 121,814,981 -29,099,123
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 147,716,949 112,982,720 -34,734,229
Air transport 2,517,946 2,604,793 +86,847
Other 1,463,914 1,111,877 -352,037
Rail transport 1,039,715 314,736 -724,979
Road transport 32,022 4,473 -27,549

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Immingham Docks 151,122,434
London 95,246,598
Dover 59,370,944
London Gateway Port 47,979,197
Felixstowe 38,091,083

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 79,635,506 71,486,928 -8,148,578
London 57,006,512 38,240,086 -18,766,426
Dover 34,303,179 25,067,765 -9,235,414
London Gateway Port 35,309,056 12,670,141 -22,638,915
Felixstowe 24,537,369 13,553,714 -10,983,655
Eurotunnel 20,124,665 17,305,849 -2,818,816
Harwich 7,079,392 16,910,432 +9,831,040
Dover / Eurotunnel 10,547,691 7,568,852 -2,978,839
Portsmouth 7,957,001 5,493,097 -2,463,904
Middlesbrough 5,024,826 4,379,168 -645,658

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 26
Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles 12
Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities 7
Manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products 7
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 5

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 23
2025-11 21
2025-10 19
2025-09 19
2025-08 20

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
54m+ 37
1m-15m 14
Other 14
15m-54m 9
0-1m 6

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 £
Iraq 58,493,861
Ireland 31,260,246
United States 9,516,021
Poland 8,736,462
Belgium 8,192,023

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 £
Iraq 26,521,029 31,972,832 +5,451,803
Ireland 17,015,201 14,245,045 -2,770,156
United States 2,181,838 7,334,183 +5,152,345
Poland 3,911,553 4,824,909 +913,356
Belgium 3,261,651 4,930,372 +1,668,721
Kazakhstan 8,080,549 1,000 -8,079,549
Finland 3,225,978 3,961,524 +735,546
France 3,575,251 1,595,332 -1,979,919
Slovenia 210,725 3,918,251 +3,707,526
Turkey 2,095,489 1,772,600 -322,889

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 2,572,040
Belgium 651,885
Germany 127,191
China 104,191
Spain 82,697

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 1,309,129 1,262,911 -46,218
Belgium 299,157 352,728 +53,571
Germany 59,179 68,012 +8,833
China 10,385 93,806 +83,421
Spain 74,757 7,940 -66,817
Italy 39,045 28,960 -10,085
Hungary 25,271 17,485 -7,786
France 13,594 19,397 +5,803
Ireland 6,349 19,515 +13,166
Netherlands 1,943 79 -1,864

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) 113,905,629
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 92,637,340
Air transport 5,114,979
Other 4,042,961
Road transport 33,182

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) 51,694,349 62,211,280 +10,516,931
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 50,818,780 41,818,560 -9,000,220
Air transport 2,813,089 2,301,890 -511,199
Other 2,016,163 2,026,798 +10,635
Road transport 33,182 0 -33,182

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Gateway Port 61,097,390
Dover / Eurotunnel 56,806,275
Liverpool Docks 28,838,189
Felixstowe 22,537,522
Southampton 10,060,224

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 £
London Gateway Port 32,557,275 28,540,115 -4,017,160
Dover / Eurotunnel 33,018,057 23,788,218 -9,229,839
Liverpool Docks 12,312,280 16,525,909 +4,213,629
Felixstowe 7,038,833 15,498,689 +8,459,856
Southampton 4,545,589 5,514,635 +969,046
London 3,951,990 4,744,496 +792,506
Holyhead 4,278,951 3,234,029 -1,044,922
000 2,016,163 2,026,798 +10,635
Immingham Docks 1,525,858 1,545,437 +19,579
Harwich 194,575 2,477,255 +2,282,680

Quick facts

HS code: 27101981

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

Description: Oils used in engines, compressors, and turbines for lubrication