Import/export HS code 5404: Synthetic monofilament, strips, and similar materials

Thin synthetic threads and strips, like artificial straw, made from synthetic textiles. Width is 5mm or less. Used in crafts, packaging, and more

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 £
Netherlands 7,982,543
Germany 7,760,428
China 3,354,253
Viet Nam 2,801,739
United States 2,264,698

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 £
Netherlands 6,057,743 1,924,800 -4,132,943
Germany 4,137,220 3,623,208 -514,012
China 1,471,145 1,883,108 +411,963
Viet Nam 1,636,148 1,165,591 -470,557
United States 797,514 1,467,184 +669,670
Italy 1,189,479 1,006,347 -183,132
United Arab Emirates 1,552,698 100,712 -1,451,986
Hungary 796,017 728,275 -67,742
Belgium 1,010,147 461,945 -548,202
France 692,278 712,564 +20,286

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 8,354,954
Netherlands 5,779,516
China 3,701,095
Viet Nam 3,287,734
United States 2,583,596

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 4,460,945 3,894,009 -566,936
Netherlands 4,927,405 852,111 -4,075,294
China 1,715,805 1,985,290 +269,485
Viet Nam 1,644,125 1,643,609 -516
United States 1,000,415 1,583,181 +582,766
United Arab Emirates 2,342,337 95,308 -2,247,029
Italy 1,180,214 1,066,645 -113,569
Hungary 875,627 752,722 -122,905
Saudi Arabia 799,091 219,523 -579,568
Taiwan 374,648 518,397 +143,749

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
West Yorkshire 16
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 11
Greater Manchester 11
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 10
Essex 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
West Yorkshire 14 13 -1
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 8 7 -1
Greater Manchester 6 11 +5
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 9 10 +1
Essex 7 8 +1
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 8 5 -3
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 6 6 +0
Surrey, East and West Sussex 7 6 -1
Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 5 5 +0
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 5 3 -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) 18,706,215
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 15,066,185
Air transport 2,081,810
Other 497,879
Road transport 60,393

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) 11,261,433 7,444,782 -3,816,651
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 8,740,934 6,325,251 -2,415,683
Air transport 1,043,956 1,037,854 -6,102
Other 386,699 111,180 -275,519
Road transport 28,665 31,728 +3,063

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Felixstowe 8,929,089
Dover 6,688,796
Immingham Docks 5,289,237
Southampton 3,912,225
Harwich 2,016,222

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 5,709,181 3,219,908 -2,489,273
Dover 3,719,519 2,969,277 -750,242
Immingham Docks 2,700,369 2,588,868 -111,501
Southampton 2,218,776 1,693,449 -525,327
Harwich 1,766,850 249,372 -1,517,478
Eurotunnel 1,105,979 844,987 -260,992
Thamesport 713,286 466,513 -246,773
London 753,019 219,522 -533,497
London Heathrow Airport 452,737 353,766 -98,971
Dover / Eurotunnel 260,754 262,778 +2,024

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 43
Other manufacturing 36
Manufacture of textiles 25
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 17
Manufacture of rubber and plastic products 12

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 41
2025-10 43
2025-09 40
2025-08 29
2025-07 52

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 79
54m+ 36
15m-54m 24
0-1m 19
Other 15

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 £
Germany 6,991,390
United States 3,701,865
Canada 3,147,125
Netherlands 2,024,660
Portugal 1,513,313

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 £
Germany 4,317,388 2,674,002 -1,643,386
United States 2,169,096 1,532,769 -636,327
Canada 1,731,694 1,415,431 -316,263
Netherlands 910,408 1,114,252 +203,844
Portugal 110,553 1,402,760 +1,292,207
China 768,421 624,114 -144,307
Japan 423,691 425,686 +1,995
Czechia 380,354 356,891 -23,463
France 483,562 185,709 -297,853
Italy 203,801 456,622 +252,821

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 £
Portugal 84,011
Germany 25,861
Viet Nam 17,534
China 12,436
Japan 7,642

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 £
Portugal 41,359 42,652 +1,293
Germany 11,501 14,360 +2,859
Viet Nam 9,859 7,675 -2,184
China 7,276 5,160 -2,116
Japan 4,634 3,008 -1,626
Italy 1,062 2,377 +1,315
Taiwan 385 0 -385
France 42 16 -26
Netherlands 6 0 -6

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) 12,791,534
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 6,834,140
Air transport 4,651,400
Other 151,372
Road transport 35,149

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) 6,341,444 6,450,090 +108,646
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 3,963,468 2,870,672 -1,092,796
Air transport 2,707,245 1,944,155 -763,090
Other 76,124 75,248 -876
Road transport 35,149 0 -35,149

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 8,717,988
Liverpool Docks 3,108,915
London Heathrow Airport 1,773,135
London Gateway Port 1,628,451
Felixstowe 1,491,785

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 4,875,054 3,842,934 -1,032,120
Liverpool Docks 1,733,345 1,375,570 -357,775
London Heathrow Airport 1,134,000 639,135 -494,865
London Gateway Port 1,297,073 331,378 -965,695
Felixstowe 666,799 824,986 +158,187
Southampton 421,031 995,448 +574,417
East Midlands Airport 736,487 657,707 -78,780
Immingham Docks 195,714 1,147,237 +951,523
ZLC 629,520 537,964 -91,556
Hull 875,637 5,390 -870,247

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 5404

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

Description: Thin synthetic threads and strips, like artificial straw, made from synthetic textiles. Width is 5mm or less. Used in crafts, packaging, and more