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 35,000,951
Italy 24,559,899
India 14,502,416
China 14,108,990
Belgium 13,608,712

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 21,254,290 13,746,661 -7,507,629
Italy 11,950,717 12,609,182 +658,465
India 7,339,204 7,163,212 -175,992
China 6,630,089 7,478,901 +848,812
Belgium 6,741,231 6,867,481 +126,250
Bulgaria 5,320,686 5,529,586 +208,900
Netherlands 4,593,914 5,387,714 +793,800
Germany 4,600,450 3,158,995 -1,441,455
Turkey 3,237,347 2,745,377 -491,970
Hungary 4,562,250 266,373 -4,295,877

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 35,032,183
Italy 25,055,681
China 15,372,505
India 14,642,195
Bulgaria 11,272,138

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 19,609,032 15,423,151 -4,185,881
Italy 12,270,306 12,785,375 +515,069
China 7,463,580 7,908,925 +445,345
India 7,442,267 7,199,928 -242,339
Bulgaria 5,411,679 5,860,459 +448,780
Germany 5,085,300 4,563,152 -522,148
Turkey 4,562,843 3,897,677 -665,166
France 3,984,831 3,208,796 -776,035
Netherlands 3,159,936 3,116,659 -43,277
Hungary 4,458,954 270,192 -4,188,762

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 40
Greater Manchester 22
West Yorkshire 19
Surrey, East and West Sussex 17
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 30 26 -4
Greater Manchester 13 16 +3
West Yorkshire 15 12 -3
Surrey, East and West Sussex 10 12 +2
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 12 11 -1
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 10 14 +4
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 9 13 +4
West Midlands 13 12 -1
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) 99,269,168
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 48,407,785
Other 6,947,463
Air transport 4,598,547
Road transport 468,771

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) 55,759,203 43,509,965 -12,249,238
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 24,736,584 23,671,201 -1,065,383
Other 4,191,302 2,756,161 -1,435,141
Air transport 2,121,163 2,477,384 +356,221
Road transport 153,739 315,032 +161,293

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 48,844,705
London 23,912,906
Felixstowe 23,835,994
Southampton 7,367,190
000 6,947,463

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 27,970,465 20,874,240 -7,096,225
London 10,300,054 13,612,852 +3,312,798
Felixstowe 14,728,339 9,107,655 -5,620,684
Southampton 3,931,001 3,436,189 -494,812
000 4,191,302 2,756,161 -1,435,141
London Gateway Port 911,594 5,553,842 +4,642,248
Immingham Docks 4,231,164 2,072,929 -2,158,235
Killingholme 2,663,733 2,879,803 +216,070
Liverpool Docks 2,614,702 2,463,349 -151,353
Eurotunnel 4,275,544 786,135 -3,489,409

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 122
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 74
Other manufacturing 30
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
2025-11 69
2025-10 79
2025-09 63
2025-08 66
2025-07 84

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 124
54m+ 101
15m-54m 48
0-1m 39
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 17,803,843
China 16,817,858
Japan 10,821,934
Netherlands 10,097,298
Denmark 8,153,607

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 9,099,271 8,704,572 -394,699
China 4,562,684 12,255,174 +7,692,490
Japan 6,180,225 4,641,709 -1,538,516
Netherlands 9,292,400 804,898 -8,487,502
Denmark 3,883,717 4,269,890 +386,173
Ireland 2,948,488 2,659,793 -288,695
United States 1,244,146 2,334,360 +1,090,214
Italy 1,436,718 1,410,981 -25,737
France 1,230,825 1,274,236 +43,411
Finland 2,452,809 11,362 -2,441,447

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 464,791
XU 269,546
Italy 46,464
China 19,005
Ireland 13,562

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 281,752 183,039 -98,713
XU 158,678 110,868 -47,810
Italy 27,988 18,476 -9,512
China 12,459 6,546 -5,913
Ireland 134 13,428 +13,294
Austria 5,653 4,361 -1,292
Switzerland 3,460 2,245 -1,215
XI 2,390 2,954 +564
Turkey 1,707 1,010 -697
India 1,417 1,168 -249

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) 52,190,150
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 40,391,941
Air transport 2,036,521
Other 845,776
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) 27,703,841 24,486,309 -3,217,532
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 19,079,318 21,312,623 +2,233,305
Air transport 805,870 1,230,651 +424,781
Other 498,311 347,465 -150,846
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 26,611,166
Immingham Docks 22,572,550
Dover / Eurotunnel 13,642,271
Southampton 8,045,426
London Gateway Port 7,208,616

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 11,972,488 14,638,678 +2,666,190
Immingham Docks 10,656,469 11,916,081 +1,259,612
Dover / Eurotunnel 7,249,804 6,392,467 -857,337
Southampton 5,065,975 2,979,451 -2,086,524
London Gateway Port 895,022 6,313,594 +5,418,572
London 5,230,032 31,232 -5,198,800
Holyhead 1,850,298 1,711,707 -138,591
Dover 935,234 637,050 -298,184
Liverpool Docks 753,187 433,779 -319,408
London Heathrow Airport 356,389 760,852 +404,463

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