Import/export HS code 8442: Printing plate and cylinder machinery

Machines and equipment used to prepare plates, cylinders, or other components for printing

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 £
Germany 11,798,451
United States 7,157,779
Belgium 3,686,597
Netherlands 3,639,773
China 3,267,455

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 £
Germany 6,003,556 5,794,895 -208,661
United States 4,463,218 2,694,561 -1,768,657
Belgium 2,476,761 1,209,836 -1,266,925
Netherlands 1,491,761 2,148,012 +656,251
China 1,825,755 1,441,700 -384,055
Poland 1,573,751 1,595,339 +21,588
Italy 1,483,472 860,649 -622,823
Switzerland 1,124,579 945,353 -179,226
France 916,657 883,950 -32,707
Turkey 873,717 184,655 -689,062

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 £
Germany 11,035,842
United States 7,281,402
China 5,346,304
Poland 4,081,016
Italy 2,535,429

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 £
Germany 6,166,892 4,868,950 -1,297,942
United States 4,491,884 2,789,518 -1,702,366
China 2,847,980 2,498,324 -349,656
Poland 1,691,373 2,389,643 +698,270
Italy 1,508,755 1,026,674 -482,081
Switzerland 1,136,000 891,519 -244,481
Belgium 1,030,549 602,080 -428,469
United Kingdom 1,030,400 496,597 -533,803
Japan 763,788 701,908 -61,880
Netherlands 625,621 676,545 +50,924

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 28
Greater Manchester 25
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 24
West Yorkshire 20
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 19

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
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 19 16 -3
Greater Manchester 17 18 +1
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 18 14 -4
West Yorkshire 15 15 +0
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 9 17 +8
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 12 12 +0
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 11 8 -3
Inner London - West 11 11 +0
West Midlands 9 11 +2
Surrey, East and West Sussex 13 8 -5

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) 21,417,966
Air transport 17,482,869
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 7,292,391
Other 302,751
Road transport 261,822

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) 10,923,333 10,494,633 -428,700
Air transport 10,824,070 6,658,799 -4,165,271
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 4,024,291 3,268,100 -756,191
Other 202,906 99,845 -103,061
Road transport 191,589 70,233 -121,356
Rail transport 0 16,259 +16,259

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 10,083,756
East Midlands Airport 5,554,069
London Stansted Airport 5,353,628
Eurotunnel 3,507,062
London Heathrow Airport 3,272,575

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 5,138,059 4,945,697 -192,362
East Midlands Airport 3,160,049 2,394,020 -766,029
London Stansted Airport 3,840,047 1,513,581 -2,326,466
Eurotunnel 1,770,561 1,736,501 -34,060
London Heathrow Airport 2,020,377 1,252,198 -768,179
Felixstowe 1,226,366 1,284,068 +57,702
London Gateway Port 1,541,784 726,563 -815,221
Birmingham Airport 979,581 933,786 -45,795
Killingholme 778,707 738,014 -40,693
London 567,799 916,400 +348,601

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 64
Printing and reproduction of recorded media 43
Other manufacturing 40
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 39
Manufacture of paper and paper products 32

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 63
2025-11 60
2025-10 59
2025-09 61
2025-08 69

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 176
54m+ 136
15m-54m 44
0-1m 36
Other 20

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 £
Germany 7,865,771
United States 7,327,527
Ireland 3,446,188
France 2,720,864
Netherlands 1,803,597

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 £
Germany 4,053,740 3,812,031 -241,709
United States 3,925,731 3,401,796 -523,935
Ireland 2,125,827 1,320,361 -805,466
France 1,923,894 796,970 -1,126,924
Netherlands 955,688 847,909 -107,779
India 1,001,282 559,914 -441,368
Italy 846,477 650,095 -196,382
Poland 862,869 564,444 -298,425
Turkey 932,476 445,782 -486,694
Spain 581,482 784,710 +203,228

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 9,164
Finland 4,437
China 1,999
Germany 263
New Zealand 10

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 8,527 637 -7,890
Finland 3,743 694 -3,049
China 0 1,999 +1,999
Germany 0 263 +263
New Zealand 0 10 +10
Spain 0 4 +4

Export volume by transport

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

Top 5 values

Transport £
Air transport 21,731,569
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 20,296,582
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 6,612,078
Road transport 114,343
Other 16,358

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 £
Air transport 11,643,018 10,088,551 -1,554,467
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 11,417,327 8,879,255 -2,538,072
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 4,483,032 2,129,046 -2,353,986
Road transport 114,343 0 -114,343
Other 12,691 3,667 -9,024

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 15,864,902
East Midlands Airport 8,527,534
London Heathrow Airport 5,998,519
Manchester Airport 3,096,206
London Gateway Port 3,040,760

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 9,701,773 6,163,129 -3,538,644
East Midlands Airport 4,939,081 3,588,453 -1,350,628
London Heathrow Airport 2,860,408 3,138,111 +277,703
Manchester Airport 1,536,169 1,560,037 +23,868
London Gateway Port 2,549,043 491,717 -2,057,326
ZLC 1,432,658 1,278,595 -154,063
Immingham Docks 554,571 1,186,681 +632,110
Dover 640,004 760,268 +120,264
London Stansted Airport 853,176 473,673 -379,503
Southampton 517,018 784,583 +267,565

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 8442

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

Description: Machines and equipment used to prepare plates, cylinders, or other components for printing