Import/export HS code 731021: Steel or iron cans for sealing

Iron or steel cans designed to be sealed by soldering or crimping. Commonly used for packaging food or drinks

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 48,983,428
China 32,025,090
Netherlands 15,236,394
Ireland 12,668,687
Germany 11,965,342

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 24,847,217 24,136,211 -711,006
China 16,755,931 15,269,159 -1,486,772
Netherlands 6,547,521 8,688,873 +2,141,352
Ireland 5,797,812 6,870,875 +1,073,063
Germany 6,242,444 5,722,898 -519,546
Denmark 4,919,237 3,122,428 -1,796,809
Spain 3,516,034 1,856,989 -1,659,045
France 2,845,884 2,314,967 -530,917
Italy 1,435,045 1,513,331 +78,286
Poland 1,155,098 1,061,994 -93,104

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 49,487,625
China 32,472,477
Netherlands 14,282,995
Germany 12,687,692
Ireland 12,527,348

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 24,863,512 24,624,113 -239,399
China 16,984,999 15,487,478 -1,497,521
Netherlands 6,366,223 7,916,772 +1,550,549
Germany 6,607,832 6,079,860 -527,972
Ireland 5,703,067 6,824,281 +1,121,214
Denmark 4,918,266 3,106,004 -1,812,262
Spain 3,522,053 1,787,013 -1,735,040
France 2,373,376 1,695,627 -677,749
Italy 1,705,355 1,817,373 +112,018
Poland 1,157,545 1,104,374 -53,171

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Greater Manchester 20
Inner London - West 19
Surrey, East and West Sussex 19
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 15
West Yorkshire 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
Greater Manchester 16 12 -4
Inner London - West 10 13 +3
Surrey, East and West Sussex 14 11 -3
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 10 11 +1
West Yorkshire 10 12 +2
Outer London - West and North West 7 9 +2
Shropshire and Staffordshire 9 8 -1
Cheshire 7 8 +1
Inner London - East 5 6 +1
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 7 6 -1

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) 86,607,168
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 59,076,417
Road transport 1,579,632
Air transport 1,294,160
Other 284,648

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) 43,520,830 43,086,338 -434,492
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 30,977,682 28,098,735 -2,878,947
Road transport 992,017 587,615 -404,402
Air transport 667,615 626,545 -41,070
Other 42,435 242,213 +199,778

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Felixstowe 28,011,995
Grangemouth Docks 27,304,414
Immingham Docks 19,085,697
Southampton 15,918,109
Liverpool Docks 15,777,432

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 £
Felixstowe 18,534,585 9,477,410 -9,057,175
Grangemouth Docks 12,322,840 14,981,574 +2,658,734
Immingham Docks 10,483,608 8,602,089 -1,881,519
Southampton 6,226,431 9,691,678 +3,465,247
Liverpool Docks 6,570,677 9,206,755 +2,636,078
Dover 6,593,674 5,398,804 -1,194,870
London Gateway Port 1,173,488 2,760,623 +1,587,135
Eurotunnel 1,939,914 1,303,291 -636,623
Harwich 1,297,355 1,929,125 +631,770
Hull 976,993 1,809,938 +832,945

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 89
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products 43
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 38
Manufacture of food products 21
Other manufacturing 18

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 68
2025-10 66
2025-09 68
2025-08 54
2025-07 63

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+ 84
0-1m 38
15m-54m 31
Other 22

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 £
Belgium 41,510,488
France 27,973,682
Ireland 9,737,947
Netherlands 9,305,420
Saudi Arabia 6,401,208

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 £
Belgium 21,926,361 19,584,127 -2,342,234
France 15,340,943 12,632,739 -2,708,204
Ireland 5,284,308 4,453,639 -830,669
Netherlands 7,118,256 2,187,164 -4,931,092
Saudi Arabia 6,380,823 20,385 -6,360,438
Italy 2,203,332 3,192,430 +989,098
Germany 1,735,417 1,308,916 -426,501
United States 2,147,561 829,851 -1,317,710
Poland 802,860 530,528 -272,332
Czechia 567,875 142,295 -425,580

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 £
China 128,918
XI 41,547
XU 11,427
Turkey 8,545
Germany 6,371

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 £
China 62,337 66,581 +4,244
XI 31,388 10,159 -21,229
XU 524 10,903 +10,379
Turkey 7,930 615 -7,315
Germany 3,339 3,032 -307
France 5,441 798 -4,643
Ireland 2,694 2,604 -90
Italy 168 0 -168
Belgium 2 0 -2

Export volume by transport

What this shows: Export value by transport mode used to ship goods from the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 97,466,421
Air transport 8,977,408
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 4,920,766
Other 208,515

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 £
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 52,919,944 44,546,477 -8,373,467
Air transport 8,458,662 518,746 -7,939,916
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 3,683,066 1,237,700 -2,445,366
Other 113,823 94,692 -19,131

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 79,739,235
Heysham 8,270,618
Warton Aerodrome 6,349,169
Immingham Docks 5,199,540
Felixstowe 2,193,644

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 41,953,832 37,785,403 -4,168,429
Heysham 4,134,550 4,136,068 +1,518
Warton Aerodrome 6,346,972 2,197 -6,344,775
Immingham Docks 4,014,035 1,185,505 -2,828,530
Felixstowe 1,959,830 233,814 -1,726,016
Liverpool Docks 1,165,614 815,154 -350,460
Dover 1,212,646 120,994 -1,091,652
Manchester Airport 1,293,339 9,375 -1,283,964
Harwich 779,364 512,161 -267,203
London Heathrow Airport 501,363 247,884 -253,479

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 731021

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

Description: Iron or steel cans designed to be sealed by soldering or crimping. Commonly used for packaging food or drinks