Import/export HS code 7204: Iron and steel waste and scrap

All types of waste and scrap from iron or steel, including remelted scrap ingots

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 £
Ireland 78,953,377
Turkey 15,790,571
Netherlands 15,299,700
Norway 13,064,527
Germany 4,763,971

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 £
Ireland 47,325,608 31,627,769 -15,697,839
Turkey 12,130,162 3,660,409 -8,469,753
Netherlands 14,888,102 411,598 -14,476,504
Norway 6,685,894 6,378,633 -307,261
Germany 3,365,751 1,398,220 -1,967,531
France 2,125,638 2,088,170 -37,468
Spain 3,428,157 33,240 -3,394,917
Canada 1,056,485 1,806,403 +749,918
Brazil 2,682,162 0 -2,682,162
United Arab Emirates 2,272,823 401,180 -1,871,643

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 £
Ireland 32,249,589
Turkey 14,546,605
Germany 12,167,309
Mexico 9,752,528
Netherlands 6,089,031

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 £
Ireland 20,465,099 11,784,490 -8,680,609
Turkey 10,886,196 3,660,409 -7,225,787
Germany 10,775,317 1,391,992 -9,383,325
Mexico 7,628,746 2,123,782 -5,504,964
Netherlands 5,675,475 413,556 -5,261,919
Spain 5,455,688 86,805 -5,368,883
Canada 2,602,232 1,806,403 -795,829
Japan 0 4,255,021 +4,255,021
France 2,224,692 2,019,831 -204,861
Brazil 3,317,233 0 -3,317,233

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Lancashire 6
Cheshire 4
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 4
Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 4
South Yorkshire 4

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
Lancashire 4 3 -1
Cheshire 3 3 +0
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 4 3 -1
Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 2 2 +0
South Yorkshire 3 2 -1
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 3 0 -3
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 3 0 -3
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 2 1 -1
Inner London - West 3 1 -2
Outer London - East and North East 2 2 +0

Import volume by transport

What this shows: Import value by transport mode used to bring goods into the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 82,042,374
Other 45,485,349
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 31,442,343
Air transport 811,370
Road transport 6,686

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 £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 61,293,332 20,749,042 -40,544,290
Other 25,685,771 19,799,578 -5,886,193
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 19,898,962 11,543,381 -8,355,581
Air transport 474,729 336,641 -138,088
Road transport 6,686 0 -6,686

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
000 45,485,349
Liverpool Docks 38,038,421
Montrose 12,813,306
Felixstowe 12,638,891
Grimsby 10,906,645

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 £
000 25,685,771 19,799,578 -5,886,193
Liverpool Docks 25,412,867 12,625,554 -12,787,313
Montrose 6,901,520 5,911,786 -989,734
Felixstowe 8,459,159 4,179,732 -4,279,427
Grimsby 10,906,645 0 -10,906,645
TRT 7,978,576 0 -7,978,576
London Gateway Port 5,563,145 709,131 -4,854,014
Immingham Docks 3,142,102 1,870,743 -1,271,359
Holyhead 2,313,021 1,273,048 -1,039,973
Portsmouth 1,730,491 1,525,984 -204,507

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 20
Waste collection, treatment and disposal activities; materials recovery 14
Manufacture of basic metals 11
Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment 9
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 8

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 13
2025-11 16
2025-10 15
2025-09 23
2025-08 12

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+ 38
1m-15m 18
15m-54m 12
Other 8
0-1m 5

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 £
Turkey 978,573,423
Egypt 668,320,597
India 622,733,600
Pakistan 473,551,876
Morocco 426,716,326

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 £
Turkey 576,914,813 401,658,610 -175,256,203
Egypt 417,126,519 251,194,078 -165,932,441
India 404,507,374 218,226,226 -186,281,148
Pakistan 263,944,253 209,607,623 -54,336,630
Morocco 179,067,824 247,648,502 +68,580,678
Spain 150,058,075 141,697,012 -8,361,063
Portugal 112,851,942 72,862,045 -39,989,897
Netherlands 50,815,430 60,464,151 +9,648,721
United States 40,997,124 52,312,670 +11,315,546
France 33,092,720 48,049,499 +14,956,779

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 103,882,515
Portugal 13,662,210
Spain 7,147,282
Nicaragua 4,003,774
Ireland 1,333,425

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 60,210,061 43,672,454 -16,537,607
Portugal 6,682,612 6,979,598 +296,986
Spain 3,974,894 3,172,388 -802,506
Nicaragua 4,003,774 0 -4,003,774
Ireland 538,198 795,227 +257,029
Luxembourg 619,015 0 -619,015
France 0 489,365 +489,365
Denmark 10,156 0 -10,156

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) 4,075,113,714
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 135,505,470
Other 131,147,859
Air transport 634,325
Road transport 574,254

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) 2,330,827,282 1,744,286,432 -586,540,850
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 104,883,650 30,621,820 -74,261,830
Other 76,038,827 55,109,032 -20,929,795
Air transport 411,944 222,381 -189,563
Road transport 574,254 0 -574,254

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Liverpool Docks 1,007,790,750
London Gateway Port 493,787,507
Felixstowe 452,995,686
London 445,144,751
Southampton 269,438,131

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 £
Liverpool Docks 558,937,624 448,853,126 -110,084,498
London Gateway Port 239,519,659 254,267,848 +14,748,189
Felixstowe 368,306,217 84,689,469 -283,616,748
London 260,574,344 184,570,407 -76,003,937
Southampton 141,205,603 128,232,528 -12,973,075
Avonmouth Docks 163,526,147 82,583,468 -80,942,679
Cardiff Docks 59,441,454 111,976,708 +52,535,254
Newport 99,281,764 65,017,590 -34,264,174
Hull 102,808,224 41,015,815 -61,792,409
000 76,038,827 55,109,032 -20,929,795

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 7204

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

Description: All types of waste and scrap from iron or steel, including remelted scrap ingots