Import/export HS code 720421: Stainless steel waste and scrap

Waste and scrap from stainless steel, ready for recycling

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 £
Turkey 15,780,682
Netherlands 13,027,062
Ireland 11,999,005
France 4,089,236
Brazil 3,954,239

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 £
Turkey 11,964,962 3,815,720 -8,149,242
Netherlands 12,832,766 194,296 -12,638,470
Ireland 7,947,452 4,051,553 -3,895,899
France 1,965,239 2,123,997 +158,758
Brazil 3,954,239 0 -3,954,239
Spain 3,318,183 94,094 -3,224,089
United Arab Emirates 2,767,737 456,471 -2,311,266
South Africa 2,523,430 95,691 -2,427,739
Israel 1,221,310 1,115,793 -105,517
Canada 1,056,485 1,225,198 +168,713

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 £
Turkey 14,536,716
Ireland 10,963,656
Germany 7,476,634
Spain 5,493,373
Netherlands 5,412,436

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 £
Turkey 10,720,996 3,815,720 -6,905,276
Ireland 7,385,057 3,578,599 -3,806,458
Germany 6,789,975 686,659 -6,103,316
Spain 5,345,714 147,659 -5,198,055
Netherlands 5,216,182 196,254 -5,019,928
Brazil 4,589,310 0 -4,589,310
France 1,965,427 2,044,291 +78,864
Canada 2,602,232 1,225,198 -1,377,034
United Arab Emirates 2,507,386 406,405 -2,100,981
Israel 1,153,382 1,014,336 -139,046

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 3
Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 3
Lancashire 3
Shropshire and Staffordshire 3
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 2

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
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 3 3 +0
Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 2 1 -1
Lancashire 3 1 -2
Shropshire and Staffordshire 3 2 -1
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 2 0 -2
Cheshire 0 2 +2
Devon 2 1 -1
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 2 0 -2
Merseyside 1 1 +0
South Yorkshire 2 0 -2

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) 53,866,887
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 17,694,586
Other 894,739
Air transport 496,967

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) 44,725,489 9,141,398 -35,584,091
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 11,308,803 6,385,783 -4,923,020
Other 461,860 432,879 -28,981
Air transport 260,795 236,172 -24,623

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Liverpool Docks 19,102,464
Felixstowe 13,035,638
Grimsby 10,906,645
TRT 7,978,576
London Gateway Port 6,360,467

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 £
Liverpool Docks 14,210,561 4,891,903 -9,318,658
Felixstowe 8,905,122 4,130,516 -4,774,606
Grimsby 10,906,645 0 -10,906,645
TRT 7,978,576 0 -7,978,576
London Gateway Port 5,549,879 810,588 -4,739,291
Portsmouth 1,855,441 1,664,870 -190,571
Holyhead 1,975,765 837,711 -1,138,054
Southampton 498,189 1,288,320 +790,131
Immingham Docks 891,444 667,267 -224,177
Middlesbrough 1,515,668 0 -1,515,668

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 9
Waste collection, treatment and disposal activities; materials recovery 8
Manufacture of basic metals 6
Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment 5
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 4

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 8
2025-11 8
2025-10 10
2025-09 12
2025-08 7

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+ 21
1m-15m 14
15m-54m 6
Other 6
0-1m 3

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 £
India 97,058,048
Portugal 13,665,057
Spain 11,836,216
Netherlands 11,795,171
Belgium 11,300,927

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 £
India 54,545,167 42,512,881 -12,032,286
Portugal 5,502,290 8,162,767 +2,660,477
Spain 8,354,282 3,481,934 -4,872,348
Netherlands 5,916,523 5,878,648 -37,875
Belgium 8,351,449 2,949,478 -5,401,971
Turkey 11,104,824 27,000 -11,077,824
Thailand 2,034,922 4,602,808 +2,567,886
Finland 0 6,204,706 +6,204,706
Pakistan 2,085,160 3,086,524 +1,001,364
Denmark 3,927,236 45,218 -3,882,018

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 13,662,210
Spain 9,085,310
Ireland 1,237,633
Luxembourg 619,015
France 489,365

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 5,502,290 8,159,920 +2,657,630
Spain 5,912,922 3,172,388 -2,740,534
Ireland 442,406 795,227 +352,821
Luxembourg 619,015 0 -619,015
France 0 489,365 +489,365
XI 267,709 94,743 -172,966
Nicaragua 2,465 0 -2,465

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) 138,517,632
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 30,234,422
Other 25,458,450
Air transport 594,281

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) 76,093,655 62,423,977 -13,669,678
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 18,837,889 11,396,533 -7,441,356
Other 12,746,807 12,711,643 -35,164
Air transport 383,328 210,953 -172,375

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Felixstowe 41,537,605
London Gateway Port 39,426,853
000 25,458,450
Southampton 14,590,652
Hartlepool 13,473,071

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 31,314,351 10,223,254 -21,091,097
London Gateway Port 17,919,790 21,507,063 +3,587,273
000 12,746,807 12,711,643 -35,164
Southampton 3,073,185 11,517,467 +8,444,282
Hartlepool 13,473,071 0 -13,473,071
Dover / Eurotunnel 6,976,771 5,095,663 -1,881,108
Immingham Docks 3,770,363 5,747,876 +1,977,513
Belfast Port 2,996,437 4,803,160 +1,806,723
Grimsby 0 6,204,706 +6,204,706
Middlesbrough 3,151,015 2,587,490 -563,525

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 720421

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

Description: Waste and scrap from stainless steel, ready for recycling