Import/export HS code 340242: Non-ionic surface-active agents

Cleaning agents without a charge, used in detergents and emulsifiers

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 106,042,703
Netherlands 69,218,466
Italy 35,856,032
Ireland 19,434,703
Belgium 17,843,345

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 49,317,593 56,725,110 +7,407,517
Netherlands 34,370,613 34,847,853 +477,240
Italy 22,381,863 13,474,169 -8,907,694
Ireland 9,587,527 9,847,176 +259,649
Belgium 11,633,825 6,209,520 -5,424,305
France 6,170,225 7,485,072 +1,314,847
Poland 5,345,530 4,586,385 -759,145
Slovakia 5,286,002 3,856,924 -1,429,078
United States 4,251,287 3,594,378 -656,909
New Zealand 4,076,567 3,218,550 -858,017

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 86,498,739
Netherlands 71,828,205
Italy 40,445,382
United States 36,587,083
Belgium 16,137,797

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 41,676,782 44,821,957 +3,145,175
Netherlands 35,916,798 35,911,407 -5,391
Italy 25,072,127 15,373,255 -9,698,872
United States 18,760,114 17,826,969 -933,145
Belgium 7,955,301 8,182,496 +227,195
Poland 5,887,533 5,591,340 -296,193
Slovakia 5,973,740 3,970,466 -2,003,274
France 4,089,855 4,814,547 +724,692
New Zealand 4,077,935 3,220,482 -857,453
Spain 3,388,102 3,829,243 +441,141

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Greater Manchester 47
Inner London - West 27
West Yorkshire 26
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 24
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 21

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
Greater Manchester 34 37 +3
Inner London - West 19 21 +2
West Yorkshire 19 24 +5
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 18 21 +3
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 18 14 -4
Cheshire 15 11 -4
Lancashire 13 12 -1
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 10 9 -1
Merseyside 12 10 -2
Surrey, East and West Sussex 11 8 -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) 197,566,810
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 120,443,921
Air transport 5,451,867
Other 4,838,732
Road transport 701,417

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) 101,111,347 96,455,463 -4,655,884
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 61,972,365 58,471,556 -3,500,809
Air transport 2,605,969 2,845,898 +239,929
Other 3,005,046 1,833,686 -1,171,360
Road transport 250,509 450,908 +200,399
Rail transport 4,857 0 -4,857

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Immingham Docks 105,857,750
London 58,182,014
Dover 28,200,653
Felixstowe 22,452,738
Middlesbrough 19,808,349

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 51,731,313 54,126,437 +2,395,124
London 29,566,126 28,615,888 -950,238
Dover 13,938,733 14,261,920 +323,187
Felixstowe 11,365,941 11,086,797 -279,144
Middlesbrough 10,412,928 9,395,421 -1,017,507
Holyhead 9,105,469 9,315,407 +209,938
Hull 8,702,460 6,190,747 -2,511,713
Killingholme 7,552,884 4,207,026 -3,345,858
London Gateway Port 5,196,923 4,285,667 -911,256
Eurotunnel 4,557,731 4,722,049 +164,318

Importer companies by SIC division

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

Top 5 values

SIC Companies
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products 176
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 91
Other manufacturing 31
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 19
Manufacture of food products 18

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 113
2025-10 139
2025-09 118
2025-08 122
2025-07 133

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+ 208
1m-15m 131
15m-54m 55
0-1m 22
Other 22

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 £
China 9,217,704
Germany 8,686,705
United States 8,128,725
France 7,702,133
Ireland 7,686,747

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 £
China 639,074 8,578,630 +7,939,556
Germany 4,870,836 3,815,869 -1,054,967
United States 4,845,909 3,282,816 -1,563,093
France 3,347,565 4,354,568 +1,007,003
Ireland 4,353,823 3,332,924 -1,020,899
Netherlands 2,962,362 2,750,599 -211,763
Italy 2,236,760 2,282,275 +45,515
Spain 1,998,254 2,057,643 +59,389
Poland 1,943,871 1,601,017 -342,854
India 1,606,525 1,630,649 +24,124

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 272,138
Czechia 41,972
XU 7,851
Poland 7,844
Belgium 1,198

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 132,685 139,453 +6,768
Czechia 20,067 21,905 +1,838
XU 4,939 2,912 -2,027
Poland 0 7,844 +7,844
Belgium 0 1,198 +1,198
Italy 11 12 +1

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) 47,965,571
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 38,038,912
Air transport 12,876,715
Other 331,026
Road transport 2,190

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) 23,935,507 24,030,064 +94,557
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 22,010,681 16,028,231 -5,982,450
Air transport 2,824,687 10,052,028 +7,227,341
Other 157,702 173,324 +15,622
Road transport 2,190 0 -2,190
Rail transport 2,010 0 -2,010

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 25,199,446
London Gateway Port 12,458,416
Immingham Docks 11,936,657
ZLC 8,223,072
Southampton 7,456,000

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 13,363,158 11,836,288 -1,526,870
London Gateway Port 6,550,721 5,907,695 -643,026
Immingham Docks 5,930,371 6,006,286 +75,915
ZLC 47,490 8,175,582 +8,128,092
Southampton 4,081,501 3,374,499 -707,002
Liverpool Docks 3,015,358 2,629,779 -385,579
Felixstowe 2,788,094 2,459,423 -328,671
Holyhead 1,924,801 1,426,043 -498,758
London 1,072,343 2,260,380 +1,188,037
Grangemouth Docks 2,004,673 1,045,707 -958,966

Quick facts

HS code: 340242

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

Description: Cleaning agents without a charge, used in detergents and emulsifiers