Import/export HS code 5603: Nonwoven materials

Nonwoven fabrics, which may be treated, coated, or layered, used in industries like healthcare and packaging

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 £
Germany 134,591,099
Turkey 98,436,243
Luxembourg 90,159,632
China 82,859,767
Spain 52,361,674

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 £
Germany 77,310,398 57,280,701 -20,029,697
Turkey 46,733,728 51,702,515 +4,968,787
Luxembourg 42,769,201 47,390,431 +4,621,230
China 45,069,701 37,790,066 -7,279,635
Spain 21,956,084 30,405,590 +8,449,506
United States 25,802,121 19,849,581 -5,952,540
Italy 23,638,708 21,804,603 -1,834,105
Netherlands 19,192,059 24,861,841 +5,669,782
France 20,525,442 18,719,026 -1,806,416
Belgium 17,193,812 21,318,174 +4,124,362

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 143,320,283
Turkey 99,842,536
China 96,084,345
United States 73,991,963
Spain 51,741,520

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 78,276,641 65,043,642 -13,232,999
Turkey 47,932,126 51,910,410 +3,978,284
China 51,407,861 44,676,484 -6,731,377
United States 41,389,012 32,602,951 -8,786,061
Spain 20,915,562 30,825,958 +9,910,396
Italy 24,803,032 22,466,718 -2,336,314
Luxembourg 13,890,759 16,354,013 +2,463,254
Poland 14,046,642 15,193,986 +1,147,344
Belgium 13,393,470 12,294,685 -1,098,785
India 11,326,673 12,957,604 +1,630,931

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Greater Manchester 108
Inner London - West 98
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 90
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 89
West Yorkshire 89

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
Greater Manchester 87 89 +2
Inner London - West 68 70 +2
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 68 67 -1
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 70 72 +2
West Yorkshire 70 74 +4
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 46 49 +3
Surrey, East and West Sussex 42 47 +5
West Midlands 44 42 -2
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 42 49 +7
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 41 45 +4

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) 432,411,804
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 325,563,448
Other 67,825,830
Air transport 37,856,861
Road transport 2,467,745

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) 222,632,900 209,778,904 -12,853,996
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 164,382,841 161,180,607 -3,202,234
Other 31,752,831 36,072,999 +4,320,168
Air transport 21,183,448 16,673,413 -4,510,035
Road transport 956,484 1,511,261 +554,777
Rail transport 12,088 5,435 -6,653

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 165,734,252
Felixstowe 127,054,212
London Gateway Port 88,638,741
Immingham Docks 83,051,590
000 67,825,830

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 89,922,086 75,812,166 -14,109,920
Felixstowe 63,000,432 64,053,780 +1,053,348
London Gateway Port 41,682,591 46,956,150 +5,273,559
Immingham Docks 40,115,721 42,935,869 +2,820,148
000 31,752,831 36,072,999 +4,320,168
Southampton 21,476,348 18,365,855 -3,110,493
Liverpool Docks 21,617,381 17,664,893 -3,952,488
Killingholme 17,904,579 14,974,750 -2,929,829
Purfleet 11,832,513 18,256,698 +6,424,185
Hull 14,178,418 13,562,279 -616,139

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 456
Other manufacturing 189
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 172
Manufacture of textiles 103
Manufacture of rubber and plastic products 81

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 419
2025-10 441
2025-09 417
2025-08 427
2025-07 444

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 709
54m+ 412
15m-54m 197
0-1m 178
Other 101

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 53,335,304
Germany 31,978,397
China 31,142,514
Ireland 30,120,316
Sweden 25,652,289

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 23,662,885 29,672,419 +6,009,534
Germany 17,304,104 14,674,293 -2,629,811
China 15,768,796 15,373,718 -395,078
Ireland 16,550,745 13,569,571 -2,981,174
Sweden 13,146,082 12,506,207 -639,875
France 10,996,958 10,505,051 -491,907
Malaysia 14,331,422 2,234,498 -12,096,924
Poland 6,772,235 6,783,996 +11,761
Italy 5,857,795 6,173,315 +315,520
Netherlands 4,055,576 4,307,332 +251,756

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 £
Luxembourg 22,191,383
XI 9,989,808
XU 5,329,892
United States 1,100,126
Hungary 327,399

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 £
Luxembourg 14,875,693 7,315,690 -7,560,003
XI 160,839 9,828,969 +9,668,130
XU 2,000,478 3,329,414 +1,328,936
United States 18,736 1,081,390 +1,062,654
Hungary 154,301 173,098 +18,797
Czechia 126,708 130,351 +3,643
Greece 140,133 75,964 -64,169
Germany 35,408 55,180 +19,772
Ireland 36,952 4,137 -32,815
Netherlands 18,824 18,620 -204

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) 165,131,423
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 126,525,541
Other 39,706,321
Air transport 29,450,071
Road transport 179,077

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) 88,825,306 76,306,117 -12,519,189
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 62,006,487 64,519,054 +2,512,567
Other 17,627,593 22,078,728 +4,451,135
Air transport 15,611,615 13,838,456 -1,773,159
Road transport 179,077 0 -179,077
Rail transport 1,233 0 -1,233

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 62,526,697
Southampton 45,160,684
Immingham Docks 40,526,177
000 39,706,321
London Gateway Port 33,102,672

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 33,503,940 29,022,757 -4,481,183
Southampton 20,360,619 24,800,065 +4,439,446
Immingham Docks 20,703,047 19,823,130 -879,917
000 17,627,593 22,078,728 +4,451,135
London Gateway Port 14,133,094 18,969,578 +4,836,484
Belfast Port 21,204,331 10,057,374 -11,146,957
London Heathrow Airport 13,331,772 10,195,895 -3,135,877
Felixstowe 9,194,422 6,437,149 -2,757,273
Liverpool Docks 8,061,768 5,453,253 -2,608,515
Holyhead 4,382,455 3,554,058 -828,397

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 5603

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

Description: Nonwoven fabrics, which may be treated, coated, or layered, used in industries like healthcare and packaging