Import/export HS code 4817: Envelopes and paper stationery

Includes envelopes, letter cards, plain postcards, and correspondence cards made of paper or paperboard. Also includes boxes, pouches, wallets, and writing compendiums containing assorted paper stationery

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 £
China 26,593,033
Poland 16,552,390
France 10,426,926
Netherlands 4,689,691
Germany 3,987,151

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 £
China 14,463,016 12,130,017 -2,332,999
Poland 9,533,574 7,018,816 -2,514,758
France 4,745,134 5,681,792 +936,658
Netherlands 981,097 3,708,594 +2,727,497
Germany 1,735,156 2,251,995 +516,839
Italy 1,752,971 1,352,636 -400,335
United States 969,678 2,084,419 +1,114,741
Turkey 1,323,337 1,602,026 +278,689
Spain 1,188,806 1,491,571 +302,765
Slovakia 1,553,519 927,248 -626,271

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 £
China 30,043,675
Poland 20,802,040
Germany 5,275,050
France 3,980,973
Slovakia 3,458,436

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 £
China 16,420,177 13,623,498 -2,796,679
Poland 10,664,112 10,137,928 -526,184
Germany 1,851,311 3,423,739 +1,572,428
France 2,198,481 1,782,492 -415,989
Slovakia 2,016,270 1,442,166 -574,104
United States 1,161,431 2,246,886 +1,085,455
Italy 1,816,360 1,388,293 -428,067
Turkey 1,369,613 1,624,719 +255,106
Spain 923,828 1,381,078 +457,250
India 942,958 910,015 -32,943

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 140
Greater Manchester 42
Inner London - East 42
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 37
Outer London - West and North West 34

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 101 92 -9
Greater Manchester 27 26 -1
Inner London - East 22 28 +6
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 24 26 +2
Outer London - West and North West 20 23 +3
Surrey, East and West Sussex 23 26 +3
West Midlands 19 24 +5
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 17 15 -2
West Yorkshire 18 14 -4
Kent 12 14 +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) 45,168,677
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 33,137,765
Air transport 7,421,588
Other 1,028,597
Road transport 99,015

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) 23,362,159 21,806,518 -1,555,641
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 16,083,553 17,054,212 +970,659
Air transport 3,718,627 3,702,961 -15,666
Other 761,892 266,705 -495,187
Road transport 41,677 57,338 +15,661

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 28,019,308
Felixstowe 16,777,426
Southampton 8,145,423
Eurotunnel 5,308,216
London Gateway Port 4,260,235

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 15,264,193 12,755,115 -2,509,078
Felixstowe 9,786,987 6,990,439 -2,796,548
Southampton 4,905,204 3,240,219 -1,664,985
Eurotunnel 2,859,275 2,448,941 -410,334
London Gateway Port 540,041 3,720,194 +3,180,153
Harwich 1,322,360 2,729,509 +1,407,149
London 1,360,264 1,816,636 +456,372
London Heathrow Airport 1,686,030 1,091,678 -594,352
Thamesport 198,387 1,810,663 +1,612,276
East Midlands Airport 699,687 1,061,743 +362,056

Importer companies by SIC division

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

Top 5 values

SIC Companies
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 278
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 215
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 45
Other manufacturing 29
Manufacture of paper and paper products 23

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 113
2025-10 120
2025-09 105
2025-08 101
2025-07 86

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 278
54m+ 187
0-1m 120
15m-54m 74
Other 60

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 6,515,972
France 6,319,426
Germany 2,954,188
United States 2,612,931
Sweden 2,465,486

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 3,717,808 2,798,164 -919,644
France 3,213,487 3,105,939 -107,548
Germany 2,088,510 865,678 -1,222,832
United States 1,006,522 1,606,409 +599,887
Sweden 1,709,540 755,946 -953,594
Netherlands 1,245,887 562,767 -683,120
Czechia 583,064 869,460 +286,396
Italy 361,114 554,401 +193,287
Spain 319,590 467,905 +148,315
United Arab Emirates 387,046 214,776 -172,270

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 £
XU 125,912
Netherlands 14,538
XI 13,714
Poland 9,810
France 2,762

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 £
XU 49,227 76,685 +27,458
Netherlands 6,319 8,219 +1,900
XI 4,051 9,663 +5,612
Poland 7,383 2,427 -4,956
France 2,762 0 -2,762
China 267 1,412 +1,145
Finland 830 0 -830
Ireland 337 280 -57
Viet Nam 3 0 -3

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) 21,801,506
Air transport 5,703,562
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 3,310,483
Other 169,865
Road transport 3,316

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) 11,701,888 10,099,618 -1,602,270
Air transport 3,049,719 2,653,843 -395,876
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 2,017,726 1,292,757 -724,969
Other 71,179 98,686 +27,507
Road transport 3,316 0 -3,316

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 11,005,564
Holyhead 3,409,652
Dover 2,308,888
London Heathrow Airport 2,305,332
Liverpool Docks 2,292,182

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 5,400,450 5,605,114 +204,664
Holyhead 2,086,249 1,323,403 -762,846
Dover 1,623,087 685,801 -937,286
London Heathrow Airport 1,016,119 1,289,213 +273,094
Liverpool Docks 1,266,098 1,026,084 -240,014
East Midlands Airport 1,319,784 781,086 -538,698
Immingham Docks 1,171,374 431,378 -739,996
London 719,462 515,272 -204,190
Heysham 278,054 562,049 +283,995
London Stansted Airport 435,622 287,199 -148,423

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 4817

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

Description: Includes envelopes, letter cards, plain postcards, and correspondence cards made of paper or paperboard. Also includes boxes, pouches, wallets, and writing compendiums containing assorted paper stationery