Import/export HS code 3403: Lubricating preparations

Lubricants for machinery, textiles, leather, and other materials, excluding those with 70% or more petroleum oils

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 87,304,021
Belgium 72,724,547
Netherlands 67,972,543
United States 34,659,989
France 32,675,807

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 44,119,470 43,184,551 -934,919
Belgium 34,237,565 38,486,982 +4,249,417
Netherlands 38,166,617 29,805,926 -8,360,691
United States 18,006,851 16,653,138 -1,353,713
France 19,014,836 13,660,971 -5,353,865
Switzerland 5,877,283 3,736,132 -2,141,151
Spain 4,719,571 4,240,334 -479,237
Italy 3,249,535 3,813,600 +564,065
Denmark 1,633,931 1,928,252 +294,321
Japan 1,727,351 1,085,388 -641,963

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 78,239,414
United States 67,843,146
France 52,951,455
Netherlands 44,910,693
Belgium 43,969,008

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 39,939,667 38,299,747 -1,639,920
United States 36,280,197 31,562,949 -4,717,248
France 25,778,642 27,172,813 +1,394,171
Netherlands 25,616,106 19,294,587 -6,321,519
Belgium 23,063,420 20,905,588 -2,157,832
Spain 5,925,750 5,139,798 -785,952
Italy 4,149,733 4,768,937 +619,204
Switzerland 3,687,111 3,514,112 -172,999
Japan 2,429,987 1,928,106 -501,881
Denmark 1,666,131 1,734,779 +68,648

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 80
Inner London - West 57
Greater Manchester 54
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 49
West Yorkshire 49

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 64 54 -10
Inner London - West 41 43 +2
Greater Manchester 47 41 -6
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 36 35 -1
West Yorkshire 38 35 -3
West Midlands 34 37 +3
Surrey, East and West Sussex 36 31 -5
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 29 30 +1
Shropshire and Staffordshire 26 25 -1
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 29 20 -9

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) 221,846,548
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 76,324,237
Air transport 26,739,342
Other 12,154,335
Road transport 4,031,735

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) 114,976,971 106,869,577 -8,107,394
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 39,812,511 36,511,726 -3,300,785
Air transport 13,854,699 12,884,643 -970,056
Other 7,376,678 4,777,657 -2,599,021
Road transport 1,639,932 2,391,803 +751,871
Rail transport 276,199 87,727 -188,472

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 74,117,740
Immingham Docks 59,489,914
Eurotunnel 33,309,664
Felixstowe 27,441,519
London 19,128,748

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 £
Dover 38,614,413 35,503,327 -3,111,086
Immingham Docks 29,950,879 29,539,035 -411,844
Eurotunnel 17,221,866 16,087,798 -1,134,068
Felixstowe 16,668,065 10,773,454 -5,894,611
London 9,636,264 9,492,484 -143,780
Portsmouth 6,837,967 6,657,957 -180,010
Harwich 5,765,753 7,336,634 +1,570,881
000 7,376,678 4,777,657 -2,599,021
Southampton 5,614,108 6,007,114 +393,006
Birmingham Airport 3,347,173 3,233,106 -114,067

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 261
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products 70
Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles 66
Other manufacturing 58
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 57

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 242
2025-11 248
2025-10 260
2025-09 240
2025-08 230

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+ 446
1m-15m 268
Other 97
15m-54m 89
0-1m 71

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 £
Belgium 29,398,077
Germany 25,229,906
Singapore 21,795,460
Turkey 21,767,694
India 21,048,542

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 £
Belgium 14,861,358 14,536,719 -324,639
Germany 12,009,010 13,220,896 +1,211,886
Singapore 12,366,093 9,429,367 -2,936,726
Turkey 12,742,078 9,025,616 -3,716,462
India 11,897,277 9,151,265 -2,746,012
United States 10,765,059 10,017,046 -748,013
Ireland 9,828,023 9,323,924 -504,099
United Arab Emirates 10,863,056 5,775,448 -5,087,608
Netherlands 7,639,265 8,490,589 +851,324
Saudi Arabia 9,660,862 6,075,216 -3,585,646

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 £
Germany 485,947
XI 225,763
Ireland 154,264
Denmark 127,492
China 58,454

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 £
Germany 228,143 257,804 +29,661
XI 102,756 123,007 +20,251
Ireland 68,565 85,699 +17,134
Denmark 63,775 63,717 -58
China 22,959 35,495 +12,536
Austria 16,043 38,980 +22,937
Netherlands 25,634 23,554 -2,080
France 13,065 21,067 +8,002
Belgium 11,927 17,279 +5,352
Italy 9,810 1,793 -8,017

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) 195,582,555
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 184,909,811
Air transport 43,045,010
Other 1,848,425
Road transport 102,734

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) 101,299,406 94,283,149 -7,016,257
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 108,793,426 76,116,385 -32,677,041
Air transport 17,199,110 25,845,900 +8,646,790
Other 920,130 928,295 +8,165
Road transport 84,679 18,055 -66,624

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 132,808,493
London Gateway Port 91,968,964
Immingham Docks 41,614,116
Southampton 30,812,959
Felixstowe 30,401,726

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 72,839,199 59,969,294 -12,869,905
London Gateway Port 54,030,405 37,938,559 -16,091,846
Immingham Docks 18,802,144 22,811,972 +4,009,828
Southampton 15,024,951 15,788,008 +763,057
Felixstowe 21,856,054 8,545,672 -13,310,382
London Heathrow Airport 8,943,595 16,318,306 +7,374,711
Liverpool Docks 8,413,917 10,824,381 +2,410,464
Holyhead 6,317,120 5,672,224 -644,896
East Midlands Airport 3,541,758 3,717,196 +175,438
Dover 3,902,307 2,777,217 -1,125,090

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 3403

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

Description: Lubricants for machinery, textiles, leather, and other materials, excluding those with 70% or more petroleum oils