Import/export HS code 3401: Soap and skin cleaning products

Bars, liquids, or creams for washing skin, including medicated soaps and products for retail sale

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 162,067,419
China 130,563,486
Poland 106,946,638
Italy 102,269,516
France 83,114,878

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 86,958,962 75,108,457 -11,850,505
China 52,401,576 78,161,910 +25,760,334
Poland 51,563,969 55,382,669 +3,818,700
Italy 51,351,217 50,918,299 -432,918
France 45,128,363 37,986,515 -7,141,848
United States 29,466,190 21,080,313 -8,385,877
Spain 22,994,848 24,963,384 +1,968,536
Netherlands 23,205,021 23,439,846 +234,825
Turkey 17,681,078 20,794,428 +3,113,350
Israel 24,939,132 13,368,929 -11,570,203

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 164,651,404
China 136,278,580
Poland 112,694,178
Italy 103,418,708
France 88,569,527

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 93,713,594 70,937,810 -22,775,784
China 55,440,203 80,838,377 +25,398,174
Poland 55,386,816 57,307,362 +1,920,546
Italy 52,130,896 51,287,812 -843,084
France 49,742,187 38,827,340 -10,914,847
Israel 32,722,123 24,943,917 -7,778,206
United States 31,917,718 25,483,231 -6,434,487
Spain 13,406,284 26,998,803 +13,592,519
Turkey 17,894,410 21,102,612 +3,208,202
Australia 7,504,359 10,699,685 +3,195,326

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 194
Inner London - East 110
Outer London - West and North West 99
Greater Manchester 90
Surrey, East and West Sussex 78

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 144 142 -2
Inner London - East 83 76 -7
Outer London - West and North West 73 72 -1
Greater Manchester 62 66 +4
Surrey, East and West Sussex 63 61 -2
Outer London - East and North East 54 49 -5
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 48 48 +0
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 46 39 -7
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 36 37 +1
West Midlands 29 26 -3

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) 612,811,831
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 331,307,576
Air transport 23,024,320
Other 19,190,814
Road transport 1,482,826

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) 300,603,201 312,208,630 +11,605,429
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 168,761,533 162,546,043 -6,215,490
Air transport 12,795,716 10,228,604 -2,567,112
Other 11,362,782 7,828,032 -3,534,750
Road transport 569,297 913,529 +344,232

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Immingham Docks 250,107,074
Felixstowe 170,965,496
Dover 96,973,839
London Gateway Port 68,578,315
London 66,987,531

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 136,243,277 113,863,797 -22,379,480
Felixstowe 77,532,585 93,432,911 +15,900,326
Dover 45,662,389 51,311,450 +5,649,061
London Gateway Port 37,024,368 31,553,947 -5,470,421
London 29,969,799 37,017,732 +7,047,933
Southampton 30,335,724 33,371,645 +3,035,921
Hull 24,156,757 19,066,807 -5,089,950
Liverpool Docks 18,760,319 16,884,575 -1,875,744
Dover / Eurotunnel 14,417,924 19,937,947 +5,520,023
Eurotunnel 16,449,198 16,924,059 +474,861

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 614
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 465
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products 72
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 72
Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities 44

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 298
2025-11 351
2025-10 376
2025-09 357
2025-08 370

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 479
0-1m 344
54m+ 279
15m-54m 138
Other 121

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 132,619,134
Germany 89,388,196
United States 55,829,794
France 52,841,507
Belgium 41,058,860

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 67,304,047 65,315,087 -1,988,960
Germany 44,865,766 44,522,430 -343,336
United States 29,137,468 26,692,326 -2,445,142
France 29,885,142 22,956,365 -6,928,777
Belgium 21,697,234 19,361,626 -2,335,608
Netherlands 21,341,423 18,394,699 -2,946,724
Poland 9,830,047 10,373,431 +543,384
United Arab Emirates 8,953,507 7,184,340 -1,769,167
Australia 7,501,990 7,369,210 -132,780
Spain 7,237,229 6,124,434 -1,112,795

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 2,380,788
China 732,182
Germany 313,481
Netherlands 260,477
United States 250,994

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 1,439,420 941,368 -498,052
China 399,988 332,194 -67,794
Germany 170,858 142,623 -28,235
Netherlands 171,796 88,681 -83,115
United States 244,066 6,928 -237,138
Italy 188,933 34,718 -154,215
France 124,153 18,331 -105,822
Belgium 136,299 1,581 -134,718
Poland 55,771 67,136 +11,365
Ireland 59,063 35,112 -23,951

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) 443,682,332
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 198,247,787
Air transport 27,218,336
Other 7,901,909
Road transport 354,163

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) 222,147,726 221,534,606 -613,120
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 105,090,253 93,157,534 -11,932,719
Air transport 17,731,373 9,486,963 -8,244,410
Other 4,605,282 3,296,627 -1,308,655
Road transport 354,163 0 -354,163
Rail transport 0 20,326 +20,326

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 222,260,344
Immingham Docks 77,918,524
Liverpool Docks 74,287,567
London Gateway Port 67,577,845
Holyhead 60,379,720

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 113,757,086 108,503,258 -5,253,828
Immingham Docks 40,666,537 37,251,987 -3,414,550
Liverpool Docks 39,405,531 34,882,036 -4,523,495
London Gateway Port 33,334,794 34,243,051 +908,257
Holyhead 27,323,352 33,056,368 +5,733,016
Southampton 24,678,427 26,607,660 +1,929,233
Felixstowe 23,001,422 14,768,649 -8,232,773
London Heathrow Airport 14,910,541 8,078,234 -6,832,307
Dover 9,675,854 10,846,298 +1,170,444
000 4,605,282 3,296,627 -1,308,655

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 3401

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

Description: Bars, liquids, or creams for washing skin, including medicated soaps and products for retail sale