Import/export HS code 5601: Textile wadding and short fiber materials

Covers textile wadding, short fibers (up to 5mm), textile dust, and mill neps, including products made from them

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 £
France 34,212,292
Italy 23,948,650
India 14,749,520
China 14,232,621
Belgium 13,448,044

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 £
France 20,862,117 13,350,175 -7,511,942
Italy 11,602,608 12,346,042 +743,434
India 7,465,670 7,283,850 -181,820
China 6,693,870 7,538,751 +844,881
Belgium 6,648,908 6,799,136 +150,228
Bulgaria 5,135,889 5,826,420 +690,531
Netherlands 4,476,583 5,717,295 +1,240,712
Germany 4,673,256 2,841,403 -1,831,853
Turkey 3,045,782 3,022,329 -23,453
Hungary 3,697,468 256,418 -3,441,050

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 £
Austria 34,309,712
Italy 24,484,890
China 15,538,171
India 14,883,311
Bulgaria 11,400,928

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 £
Austria 19,256,658 15,053,054 -4,203,604
Italy 11,915,352 12,569,538 +654,186
China 7,530,474 8,007,697 +477,223
India 7,575,017 7,308,294 -266,723
Bulgaria 5,341,341 6,059,587 +718,246
Germany 5,226,936 4,383,022 -843,914
Turkey 4,263,220 4,182,789 -80,431
France 3,946,002 3,270,780 -675,222
Netherlands 3,059,216 3,208,286 +149,070
Poland 2,081,460 1,784,469 -296,991

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 38
Greater Manchester 22
West Yorkshire 19
Surrey, East and West Sussex 18
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 15

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 29 25 -4
Greater Manchester 14 16 +2
West Yorkshire 14 12 -2
Surrey, East and West Sussex 12 13 +1
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 12 11 -1
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 11 12 +1
West Midlands 13 13 +0
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 10 12 +2
Outer London - West and North West 8 8 +0
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 9 11 +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) 96,612,558
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 49,142,793
Other 6,811,427
Air transport 4,516,336
Road transport 544,313

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) 53,868,867 42,743,691 -11,125,176
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 24,585,290 24,557,503 -27,787
Other 4,280,166 2,531,261 -1,748,905
Air transport 2,190,569 2,325,767 +135,198
Road transport 163,690 380,623 +216,933

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 47,044,922
London 24,608,804
Felixstowe 23,564,861
Southampton 7,275,447
London Gateway Port 7,122,977

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 26,871,970 20,172,952 -6,699,018
London 10,885,129 13,723,675 +2,838,546
Felixstowe 14,608,341 8,956,520 -5,651,821
Southampton 3,953,088 3,322,359 -630,729
London Gateway Port 925,159 6,197,818 +5,272,659
000 4,280,166 2,531,261 -1,748,905
Immingham Docks 4,041,267 2,031,162 -2,010,105
Killingholme 2,667,587 2,799,837 +132,250
Liverpool Docks 2,581,302 2,558,051 -23,251
Eurotunnel 3,784,282 723,836 -3,060,446

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 125
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 74
Other manufacturing 31
Manufacture of textiles 15
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 12

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 67
2025-11 69
2025-10 79
2025-09 63
2025-08 66

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 126
54m+ 99
15m-54m 50
0-1m 40
Other 27

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 17,234,931
China 16,770,877
Japan 11,108,643
Netherlands 9,526,200
Denmark 8,209,865

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 9,001,629 8,233,302 -768,327
China 5,043,388 11,727,489 +6,684,101
Japan 6,025,191 5,083,452 -941,739
Netherlands 8,668,345 857,855 -7,810,490
Denmark 4,049,372 4,160,493 +111,121
Ireland 2,902,340 2,642,620 -259,720
United States 1,317,825 2,376,932 +1,059,107
Italy 1,379,156 1,515,141 +135,985
France 1,261,711 1,235,549 -26,162
Finland 2,340,076 22,662 -2,317,414

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 £
France 456,451
Italy 44,948
China 18,417
Ireland 13,434
Austria 9,924

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 £
France 265,923 190,528 -75,395
Italy 30,251 14,697 -15,554
China 14,841 3,576 -11,265
Ireland 6 13,428 +13,422
Austria 5,736 4,188 -1,548
Switzerland 3,453 2,466 -987
XI 2,337 2,960 +623
Turkey 2,717 0 -2,717
India 2,585 0 -2,585
Portugal 1,513 779 -734

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) 50,825,438
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 40,481,263
Air transport 1,996,567
Other 834,754
Road transport 15,468

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) 26,197,843 24,627,595 -1,570,248
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 19,928,979 20,552,284 +623,305
Air transport 793,925 1,202,642 +408,717
Other 496,233 338,521 -157,712
Road transport 15,468 0 -15,468

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Felixstowe 26,196,453
Immingham Docks 22,530,426
Dover / Eurotunnel 13,245,058
Southampton 8,303,353
London Gateway Port 7,246,510

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 £
Felixstowe 11,851,037 14,345,416 +2,494,379
Immingham Docks 11,320,607 11,209,819 -110,788
Dover / Eurotunnel 6,828,903 6,416,155 -412,748
Southampton 5,122,681 3,180,672 -1,942,009
London Gateway Port 921,178 6,325,332 +5,404,154
London 5,117,815 43,473 -5,074,342
Holyhead 1,688,724 1,823,510 +134,786
Dover 889,654 609,565 -280,089
Liverpool Docks 871,135 437,161 -433,974
London Heathrow Airport 344,670 720,502 +375,832

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 5601

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

Description: Covers textile wadding, short fibers (up to 5mm), textile dust, and mill neps, including products made from them