Import/export HS code 490290: Various printed newspapers, magazines, and journals

Includes printed newspapers, magazines, and journals that don’t appear four times a week

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 £
United States 20,650,559
Germany 14,730,629
Ireland 10,985,057
Poland 8,617,932
Italy 6,206,352

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 £
United States 12,919,530 7,731,029 -5,188,501
Germany 8,932,114 5,798,515 -3,133,599
Ireland 7,388,333 3,596,724 -3,791,609
Poland 3,043,831 5,574,101 +2,530,270
Italy 3,079,849 3,126,503 +46,654
Romania 1,915,944 1,904,607 -11,337
Netherlands 1,972,145 1,227,242 -744,903
France 1,472,716 1,622,958 +150,242
Latvia 1,040,106 1,258,493 +218,387
Belgium 236,810 560,986 +324,176

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 £
United States 19,761,767
Germany 15,195,894
Poland 8,805,053
Italy 6,017,140
Romania 3,826,133

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 £
United States 12,190,719 7,571,048 -4,619,671
Germany 9,182,003 6,013,891 -3,168,112
Poland 3,108,982 5,696,071 +2,587,089
Italy 3,051,466 2,965,674 -85,792
Romania 1,914,914 1,911,219 -3,695
Netherlands 1,691,802 979,755 -712,047
Latvia 1,033,621 1,265,786 +232,165
France 793,221 898,937 +105,716
United Kingdom 1,176,795 486,424 -690,371
Ireland 545,925 494,246 -51,679

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 54
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 14
Outer London - West and North West 14
Inner London - East 13
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 9

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 38 34 -4
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 10 7 -3
Outer London - West and North West 10 9 -1
Inner London - East 12 6 -6
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 5 6 +1
Outer London - East and North East 7 3 -4
Surrey, East and West Sussex 6 5 -1
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 1 4 +3
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 1 4 +3
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 2 4 +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) 41,455,905
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 16,174,444
Air transport 11,037,646
Other 9,957,104
Road transport 100,293

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) 20,341,846 21,114,059 +772,213
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 8,922,524 7,251,920 -1,670,604
Air transport 7,857,458 3,180,188 -4,677,270
Other 6,885,002 3,072,102 -3,812,900
Road transport 71,086 29,207 -41,879

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 19,492,151
Southampton 12,197,408
000 9,957,104
Eurotunnel 7,784,531
Harwich 6,512,476

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 8,631,407 10,860,744 +2,229,337
Southampton 6,422,418 5,774,990 -647,428
000 6,885,002 3,072,102 -3,812,900
Eurotunnel 3,208,378 4,576,153 +1,367,775
Harwich 4,385,189 2,127,287 -2,257,902
London Heathrow Airport 4,650,683 1,480,207 -3,170,476
London 1,923,749 1,317,700 -606,049
Immingham Docks 1,360,603 1,261,934 -98,669
London Stansted Airport 1,573,555 785,332 -788,223
Birmingham Airport 852,298 584,786 -267,512

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 46
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 37
Publishing activities 23
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 21
Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities 11

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 22
2025-11 27
2025-10 32
2025-09 34
2025-08 26

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+ 64
1m-15m 55
0-1m 29
15m-54m 20
Other 19

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 £
United States 145,776,007
Australia 105,675,517
Ireland 82,532,471
China 22,326,014
Sweden 16,068,646

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 £
United States 76,929,701 68,846,306 -8,083,395
Australia 60,110,300 45,565,217 -14,545,083
Ireland 44,498,306 38,034,165 -6,464,141
China 12,421,675 9,904,339 -2,517,336
Sweden 5,302,689 10,765,957 +5,463,268
New Zealand 6,629,674 5,986,056 -643,618
Netherlands 6,008,876 5,048,147 -960,729
Spain 5,048,499 3,670,413 -1,378,086
France 4,582,575 4,120,750 -461,825
Germany 3,812,875 3,641,277 -171,598

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 4,046,500
Ireland 1,408,448

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 2,116,523 1,929,977 -186,546
Ireland 730,305 678,143 -52,162

Export volume by transport

What this shows: Export value by transport mode used to ship goods from the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 280,665,835
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 131,126,577
Air transport 45,009,208
Other 14,286,162
Road transport 3,493

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 £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 143,807,959 136,857,876 -6,950,083
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 71,004,945 60,121,632 -10,883,313
Air transport 29,362,491 15,646,717 -13,715,774
Other 7,488,514 6,797,648 -690,866
Road transport 3,493 0 -3,493

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Southampton 149,064,656
London Gateway Port 91,304,054
Dover / Eurotunnel 53,661,866
Liverpool Docks 49,629,578
London Heathrow Airport 42,055,664

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 £
Southampton 69,683,441 79,381,215 +9,697,774
London Gateway Port 65,134,051 26,170,003 -38,964,048
Dover / Eurotunnel 29,575,631 24,086,235 -5,489,396
Liverpool Docks 29,851,803 19,777,775 -10,074,028
London Heathrow Airport 27,727,791 14,327,873 -13,399,918
Felixstowe 2,360,739 21,023,877 +18,663,138
Holyhead 7,152,451 11,807,168 +4,654,717
Immingham Docks 5,415,812 11,082,650 +5,666,838
000 7,488,514 6,797,648 -690,866
London 1,038,036 1,687,522 +649,486

Quick facts

HS code: 490290

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

Description: Includes printed newspapers, magazines, and journals that don’t appear four times a week