Import/export HS code 8308: Metal fasteners for clothes, shoes, and accessories

Includes hooks, buckles, rivets, and other small metal parts used for clothing, footwear, bags, watches, and more

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 25,292,913
Germany 15,484,188
United States 14,398,315
France 13,866,652
Romania 11,385,145

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 13,160,018 12,132,895 -1,027,123
Germany 8,309,450 7,174,738 -1,134,712
United States 7,174,784 7,223,531 +48,747
France 7,891,422 5,975,230 -1,916,192
Romania 6,349,174 5,035,971 -1,313,203
Netherlands 3,486,114 3,615,302 +129,188
Italy 2,688,152 3,777,965 +1,089,813
Poland 2,426,894 2,479,690 +52,796
Taiwan 2,195,360 1,828,907 -366,453
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 1,732,261 1,163,958 -568,303

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 30,984,786
Germany 18,143,709
United States 17,292,996
Romania 13,796,048
Italy 7,551,906

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 16,459,739 14,525,047 -1,934,692
Germany 9,711,991 8,431,718 -1,280,273
United States 8,377,750 8,915,246 +537,496
Romania 7,989,191 5,806,857 -2,182,334
Italy 3,500,732 4,051,174 +550,442
Poland 2,414,444 2,631,008 +216,564
Taiwan 2,207,374 2,020,065 -187,309
France 1,521,998 1,491,987 -30,011
United Kingdom 1,587,999 1,364,401 -223,598
Spain 1,431,738 1,316,391 -115,347

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 170
Inner London - East 76
Greater Manchester 75
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 73
West Midlands 70

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
Inner London - West 109 118 +9
Inner London - East 51 52 +1
Greater Manchester 53 46 -7
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 53 54 +1
West Midlands 56 49 -7
Outer London - West and North West 36 45 +9
Surrey, East and West Sussex 41 45 +4
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 48 35 -13
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 32 36 +4
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 25 33 +8

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) 54,514,656
Air transport 38,179,088
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 26,059,616
Other 3,799,667
Road transport 104,333

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) 29,306,756 25,207,900 -4,098,856
Air transport 19,546,823 18,632,265 -914,558
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 13,481,391 12,578,225 -903,166
Other 1,936,729 1,862,938 -73,791
Road transport 30,615 73,718 +43,103
Rail transport 17,225 16,279 -946

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 32,231,703
Felixstowe 14,296,226
London Heathrow Airport 13,318,559
East Midlands Airport 8,809,498
Eurotunnel 7,433,521

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 17,507,355 14,724,348 -2,783,007
Felixstowe 8,273,916 6,022,310 -2,251,606
London Heathrow Airport 7,213,840 6,104,719 -1,109,121
East Midlands Airport 4,650,289 4,159,209 -491,080
Eurotunnel 3,250,037 4,183,484 +933,447
London Stansted Airport 3,573,609 3,759,293 +185,684
London 2,397,291 2,897,579 +500,288
Southampton 2,314,801 2,073,704 -241,097
Dover / Eurotunnel 2,402,724 1,818,704 -584,020
000 1,936,729 1,862,938 -73,791

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 385
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 330
Other manufacturing 96
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 77
Manufacture of wearing apparel 66

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 239
2025-10 246
2025-09 232
2025-08 228
2025-07 263

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 567
54m+ 319
0-1m 258
15m-54m 125
Other 91

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 £
Netherlands 26,024,858
Germany 14,504,894
United States 12,268,743
France 4,087,240
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 3,707,211

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 £
Netherlands 13,591,067 12,433,791 -1,157,276
Germany 8,131,242 6,373,652 -1,757,590
United States 8,025,033 4,243,710 -3,781,323
France 2,238,052 1,849,188 -388,864
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 1,414,095 2,293,116 +879,021
Switzerland 1,548,972 1,967,430 +418,458
Poland 1,892,524 982,340 -910,184
India 1,267,876 1,500,407 +232,531
Italy 1,245,715 1,287,086 +41,371
Spain 1,273,944 1,055,388 -218,556

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 426,311
XU 205,137
France 38,711
China 23,111
Ireland 7,083

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 205,435 220,876 +15,441
XU 85,668 119,469 +33,801
France 27,687 11,024 -16,663
China 3,928 19,183 +15,255
Ireland 4,334 2,749 -1,585
Nicaragua 1,214 1,565 +351
India 4 2,031 +2,027
Italy 1,713 0 -1,713
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 783 520 -263
Germany 673 428 -245

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) 54,557,793
Air transport 22,131,863
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 17,499,402
Other 711,102
Road transport 46,567

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) 27,590,539 26,967,254 -623,285
Air transport 9,868,491 12,263,372 +2,394,881
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 13,072,983 4,426,419 -8,646,564
Other 332,579 378,523 +45,944
Road transport 46,567 0 -46,567

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 31,793,906
Immingham Docks 22,295,073
London Heathrow Airport 8,909,797
East Midlands Airport 7,078,505
London Gateway Port 6,279,849

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 17,736,761 14,057,145 -3,679,616
Immingham Docks 10,943,376 11,351,697 +408,321
London Heathrow Airport 3,501,846 5,407,951 +1,906,105
East Midlands Airport 3,209,153 3,869,352 +660,199
London Gateway Port 4,997,065 1,282,784 -3,714,281
Felixstowe 1,327,451 785,654 -541,797
London Stansted Airport 774,902 1,037,369 +262,467
Liverpool Docks 764,009 1,029,423 +265,414
ZLC 1,070,033 708,481 -361,552
Killingholme 1,559,995 0 -1,559,995

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 8308

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

Description: Includes hooks, buckles, rivets, and other small metal parts used for clothing, footwear, bags, watches, and more