Import/export HS code 3203: Natural dyes and colorants

Dyes and colorants made from plants or animals, including extracts and chemically defined 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 29,333,814
Germany 18,601,400
Ireland 17,766,843
China 9,649,494
Italy 8,016,011

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 14,942,272 14,391,542 -550,730
Germany 9,601,613 8,999,787 -601,826
Ireland 9,531,338 8,235,505 -1,295,833
China 3,847,084 5,802,410 +1,955,326
Italy 3,868,224 4,147,787 +279,563
France 3,237,114 2,365,514 -871,600
Denmark 2,866,883 2,729,982 -136,901
India 1,838,184 2,194,335 +356,151
Spain 1,225,445 1,752,160 +526,715
United States 1,252,830 1,241,667 -11,163

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 £
Netherlands 21,989,158
Ireland 16,995,882
China 14,008,366
Germany 13,013,603
Italy 8,764,753

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 £
Netherlands 12,056,164 9,932,994 -2,123,170
Ireland 9,036,387 7,959,495 -1,076,892
China 6,307,898 7,700,468 +1,392,570
Germany 5,862,918 7,150,685 +1,287,767
Italy 4,357,698 4,407,055 +49,357
India 2,341,817 2,856,883 +515,066
Spain 2,602,740 2,539,021 -63,719
Denmark 2,265,544 2,262,855 -2,689
France 2,108,159 1,726,740 -381,419
Australia 1,996,148 1,711,018 -285,130

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 22
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 15
Inner London - West 14
Greater Manchester 13
Outer London - West and North West 12

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 18 14 -4
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 12 12 +0
Inner London - West 12 13 +1
Greater Manchester 9 12 +3
Outer London - West and North West 9 10 +1
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 7 9 +2
Merseyside 8 7 -1
Surrey, East and West Sussex 7 8 +1
Inner London - East 6 6 +0
North Somerset, Somerset and Dorset 5 7 +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) 70,777,688
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 19,641,729
Air transport 19,635,047
Other 2,050,818
Road transport 23,537

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) 36,236,261 34,541,427 -1,694,834
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 10,166,848 9,474,881 -691,967
Air transport 8,230,723 11,404,324 +3,173,601
Other 1,030,444 1,020,374 -10,070
Road transport 3,381 20,156 +16,775

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Eurotunnel 19,415,733
Dover 18,124,218
Holyhead 13,694,758
Hull 8,582,288
Felixstowe 8,276,155

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 £
Eurotunnel 10,714,735 8,700,998 -2,013,737
Dover 9,124,858 8,999,360 -125,498
Holyhead 7,439,380 6,255,378 -1,184,002
Hull 4,601,884 3,980,404 -621,480
Felixstowe 3,674,183 4,601,972 +927,789
London Heathrow Airport 2,252,468 3,503,075 +1,250,607
East Midlands Airport 1,887,524 3,736,792 +1,849,268
London 2,148,289 2,483,497 +335,208
Birmingham Airport 1,870,845 2,148,091 +277,246
Immingham Docks 1,489,881 1,960,466 +470,585

Importer companies by SIC division

What this shows: Industry breakdown (SIC divisions) of importing companies.

Top 5 values

SIC Companies
Manufacture of food products 97
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 73
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 28
Manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations 19
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products 17

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 63
2025-10 68
2025-09 73
2025-08 66
2025-07 63

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+ 97
1m-15m 81
15m-54m 39
0-1m 18
Other 14

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 6,934,658
France 6,496,099
United States 5,312,213
Germany 4,978,084
Ukraine 4,594,359

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 3,959,111 2,975,547 -983,564
France 3,381,110 3,114,989 -266,121
United States 2,775,213 2,537,000 -238,213
Germany 2,853,619 2,124,465 -729,154
Ukraine 2,191,479 2,402,880 +211,401
Denmark 2,393,015 2,033,097 -359,918
Netherlands 2,025,595 2,177,104 +151,509
Poland 1,845,021 2,020,827 +175,806
Turkey 1,484,503 1,128,370 -356,133
Italy 1,231,296 1,137,970 -93,326

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 8,033
XU 2,842
Peru 2,456
Germany 38
Ireland 10

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 5,866 2,167 -3,699
XU 1,193 1,649 +456
Peru 2,456 0 -2,456
Germany 31 7 -24
Ireland 10 0 -10

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) 46,063,697
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 12,354,147
Air transport 11,129,597
Road transport 142,443
Other 13,379

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) 24,089,413 21,974,284 -2,115,129
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 5,823,871 6,530,276 +706,405
Air transport 5,785,055 5,344,542 -440,513
Road transport 134,883 7,560 -127,323
Other 9,556 3,823 -5,733

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 33,947,467
London Heathrow Airport 8,170,872
Holyhead 6,354,059
London Gateway Port 5,502,359
Immingham Docks 4,159,165

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 17,762,803 16,184,664 -1,578,139
London Heathrow Airport 4,091,332 4,079,540 -11,792
Holyhead 3,637,046 2,717,013 -920,033
London Gateway Port 2,650,218 2,852,141 +201,923
Immingham Docks 1,862,398 2,296,767 +434,369
Dover 1,479,809 1,521,885 +42,076
Liverpool Docks 1,276,218 940,401 -335,817
Manchester Airport 1,068,198 844,461 -223,737
Southampton 600,466 900,600 +300,134
Felixstowe 275,683 770,532 +494,849

Quick facts

HS code: 3203

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

Description: Dyes and colorants made from plants or animals, including extracts and chemically defined preparations