Import/export HS code 4820: Paper and cardboard stationery items

Includes registers, notebooks, diaries, exercise books, binders, folders, business forms, and albums for samples or collections

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 189,721,275
India 44,505,375
France 32,189,138
Estonia 25,668,701
Germany 17,506,632

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 103,970,109 85,751,166 -18,218,943
India 23,422,307 21,083,068 -2,339,239
France 17,864,135 14,325,003 -3,539,132
Estonia 13,720,543 11,948,158 -1,772,385
Germany 10,322,312 7,184,320 -3,137,992
Netherlands 6,883,460 8,504,253 +1,620,793
Italy 8,073,363 7,250,626 -822,737
Malaysia 6,373,332 5,342,366 -1,030,966
Poland 6,153,004 5,438,064 -714,940
United States 3,087,165 2,317,518 -769,647

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 208,905,894
India 44,926,622
Estonia 25,758,291
Poland 23,354,427
France 15,753,409

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 114,113,240 94,792,654 -19,320,586
India 23,705,020 21,221,602 -2,483,418
Estonia 13,723,316 12,034,975 -1,688,341
Poland 12,125,851 11,228,576 -897,275
France 8,719,017 7,034,392 -1,684,625
Italy 6,184,594 5,989,895 -194,699
Malaysia 5,859,762 5,489,237 -370,525
United States 6,477,825 2,580,602 -3,897,223
Germany 4,080,497 3,443,948 -636,549
Turkey 2,695,229 2,693,692 -1,537

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 292
Greater Manchester 118
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 112
Inner London - East 106
Outer London - West and North West 95

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 211 193 -18
Greater Manchester 86 69 -17
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 85 67 -18
Inner London - East 69 75 +6
Outer London - West and North West 70 62 -8
Surrey, East and West Sussex 64 56 -8
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 51 51 +0
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 47 40 -7
West Midlands 32 30 -2
West Yorkshire 37 32 -5

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) 237,784,898
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 114,734,204
Air transport 39,493,602
Other 7,222,599
Road transport 674,394

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) 128,969,562 108,815,336 -20,154,226
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 62,016,418 52,717,786 -9,298,632
Air transport 17,838,475 21,655,127 +3,816,652
Other 4,851,163 2,371,436 -2,479,727
Road transport 200,000 474,394 +274,394

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Felixstowe 117,231,619
Southampton 76,433,184
Dover 38,226,306
Harwich 29,998,641
London Gateway Port 22,746,211

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 £
Felixstowe 73,050,860 44,180,759 -28,870,101
Southampton 41,358,385 35,074,799 -6,283,586
Dover 19,425,136 18,801,170 -623,966
Harwich 19,938,726 10,059,915 -9,878,811
London Gateway Port 4,382,433 18,363,778 +13,981,345
London 5,161,635 12,500,299 +7,338,664
Eurotunnel 6,564,671 6,043,831 -520,840
Birmingham Airport 5,778,588 5,567,474 -211,114
London Heathrow Airport 4,419,098 4,439,897 +20,799
Dover / Eurotunnel 5,455,877 2,256,782 -3,199,095

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 532
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 511
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 132
Other manufacturing 72
Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities 57

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 250
2025-11 290
2025-10 328
2025-09 297
2025-08 283

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 611
54m+ 514
0-1m 291
15m-54m 180
Other 167

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 41,676,551
Netherlands 7,249,936
United States 7,175,448
France 6,050,952
Germany 5,791,463

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 21,786,811 19,889,740 -1,897,071
Netherlands 4,156,022 3,093,914 -1,062,108
United States 4,291,572 2,883,876 -1,407,696
France 3,373,596 2,677,356 -696,240
Germany 3,001,274 2,790,189 -211,085
Italy 1,456,405 1,335,262 -121,143
United Arab Emirates 1,050,043 954,935 -95,108
Poland 1,074,931 532,396 -542,535
Spain 900,700 612,152 -288,548
Canada 619,206 734,336 +115,130

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 3,607,514
China 100,465
Ireland 16,561
Switzerland 14,933
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 14,471

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 2,039,197 1,568,317 -470,880
China 73,842 26,623 -47,219
Ireland 11,275 5,286 -5,989
Switzerland 14 14,919 +14,905
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 9,530 4,941 -4,589
India 47 2,385 +2,338
Malaysia 1,295 915 -380
Spain 0 1,045 +1,045
France 246 0 -246
Portugal 98 0 -98

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) 62,965,402
Air transport 19,146,727
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 11,759,737
Other 3,826,283
Road transport 138,642

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) 32,997,569 29,967,833 -3,029,736
Air transport 11,150,899 7,995,828 -3,155,071
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 6,868,486 4,891,251 -1,977,235
Other 2,180,379 1,645,904 -534,475
Road transport 138,642 0 -138,642

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Holyhead 27,357,028
Dover / Eurotunnel 20,752,045
East Midlands Airport 9,770,312
Liverpool Docks 6,896,667
London Heathrow Airport 5,324,317

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 £
Holyhead 13,604,899 13,752,129 +147,230
Dover / Eurotunnel 11,276,152 9,475,893 -1,800,259
East Midlands Airport 6,171,676 3,598,636 -2,573,040
Liverpool Docks 3,660,205 3,236,462 -423,743
London Heathrow Airport 3,004,093 2,320,224 -683,869
London Gateway Port 2,342,880 1,645,606 -697,274
000 2,180,379 1,645,904 -534,475
Southampton 1,390,756 1,291,425 -99,331
Immingham Docks 1,435,272 974,408 -460,864
ZLC 939,640 1,358,432 +418,792

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 4820

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

Description: Includes registers, notebooks, diaries, exercise books, binders, folders, business forms, and albums for samples or collections