Import/export HS code 731512: Various types of iron or steel chains

Chains made of iron or steel, excluding roller chains, used in various industrial and mechanical applications

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 £
China 14,795,119
Germany 11,853,252
Italy 5,125,558
Viet Nam 4,265,334
Japan 2,658,147

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 £
China 8,232,138 6,562,981 -1,669,157
Germany 6,509,500 5,343,752 -1,165,748
Italy 2,991,260 2,134,298 -856,962
Viet Nam 3,121,755 1,143,579 -1,978,176
Japan 647,421 2,010,726 +1,363,305
France 901,738 1,078,399 +176,661
United States 536,806 625,403 +88,597
Finland 486,073 462,948 -23,125
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 586,957 91,649 -495,308
Denmark 531,471 70,544 -460,927

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 £
China 16,035,412
Germany 7,612,460
Italy 5,096,943
Viet Nam 4,300,485
Romania 3,694,512

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 £
China 9,135,831 6,899,581 -2,236,250
Germany 4,595,043 3,017,417 -1,577,626
Italy 2,894,421 2,202,522 -691,899
Viet Nam 3,169,708 1,130,777 -2,038,931
Romania 1,603,096 2,091,416 +488,320
Japan 700,103 2,202,751 +1,502,648
France 790,443 627,420 -163,023
United States 546,722 585,777 +39,055
Finland 511,183 473,471 -37,712
Poland 281,190 201,666 -79,524

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
West Midlands 26
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 18
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 17
West Yorkshire 16
Greater Manchester 13

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
West Midlands 20 17 -3
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 13 8 -5
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 15 11 -4
West Yorkshire 10 10 +0
Greater Manchester 12 7 -5
Surrey, East and West Sussex 10 8 -2
Inner London - West 8 6 -2
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 7 7 +0
Cheshire 6 5 -1
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 7 9 +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) 23,308,552
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 10,728,548
Air transport 8,103,659
Rail transport 4,004,044
Other 293,222

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) 12,710,384 10,598,168 -2,112,216
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 6,003,682 4,724,866 -1,278,816
Air transport 4,427,938 3,675,721 -752,217
Rail transport 2,407,696 1,596,348 -811,348
Other 68,151 225,071 +156,920
Road transport 5,885 14,245 +8,360

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Felixstowe 14,144,425
Birmingham Airport 5,394,382
Southampton 5,099,729
Dover 4,214,484
NGO 4,002,410

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 9,304,676 4,839,749 -4,464,927
Birmingham Airport 2,866,502 2,527,880 -338,622
Southampton 2,549,075 2,550,654 +1,579
Dover 2,170,186 2,044,298 -125,888
NGO 2,407,696 1,594,714 -812,982
Eurotunnel 1,355,026 1,106,066 -248,960
London Gateway Port 454,937 1,979,810 +1,524,873
Immingham Docks 1,303,413 1,111,611 -191,802
London Heathrow Airport 671,617 367,402 -304,215
London 346,647 563,518 +216,871

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 61
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 42
Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment 27
Repair and installation of machinery and equipment 18
Other manufacturing 16

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 57
2025-10 58
2025-09 55
2025-08 50
2025-07 60

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+ 134
1m-15m 92
15m-54m 35
Other 23
0-1m 12

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 £
Italy 4,708,200
United States 3,224,875
Germany 2,328,540
Poland 2,313,242
Spain 2,229,405

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 £
Italy 2,554,546 2,153,654 -400,892
United States 2,064,317 1,160,558 -903,759
Germany 1,077,692 1,250,848 +173,156
Poland 2,091,349 221,893 -1,869,456
Spain 620,815 1,608,590 +987,775
Ireland 1,154,878 1,066,860 -88,018
France 1,057,666 777,142 -280,524
Netherlands 655,000 679,259 +24,259
Philippines 376,436 809,846 +433,410
South Korea 568,414 573,974 +5,560

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 11,272
XI 4,092
XU 3,375
Ireland 805
Germany 538

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 8,501 2,771 -5,730
XI 3,600 492 -3,108
XU 1,296 2,079 +783
Ireland 139 666 +527
Germany 17 521 +504
Romania 56 285 +229
Italy 0 287 +287

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) 19,730,778
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 11,951,197
Air transport 4,588,642
Road transport 39,980
Other 20,710

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) 10,806,422 8,924,356 -1,882,066
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 5,641,765 6,309,432 +667,667
Air transport 2,837,378 1,751,264 -1,086,114
Road transport 39,980 0 -39,980
Other 13,609 7,101 -6,508

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 15,467,999
London Gateway Port 5,743,754
Southampton 2,565,788
London Heathrow Airport 1,800,823
Holyhead 1,663,727

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 8,525,921 6,942,078 -1,583,843
London Gateway Port 3,099,488 2,644,266 -455,222
Southampton 683,359 1,882,429 +1,199,070
London Heathrow Airport 1,109,133 691,690 -417,443
Holyhead 913,837 749,890 -163,947
Manchester Airport 911,855 584,612 -327,243
Liverpool Docks 795,268 606,432 -188,836
Dover 609,646 611,539 +1,893
Felixstowe 602,440 603,004 +564
East Midlands Airport 619,526 270,349 -349,177

Quick facts

HS code: 731512

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

Description: Chains made of iron or steel, excluding roller chains, used in various industrial and mechanical applications