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 11,627,625
United States 7,162,333
Netherlands 3,987,222
Belgium 3,908,202
China 3,284,387

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 5,622,784 6,004,841 +382,057
United States 4,400,128 2,762,205 -1,637,923
Netherlands 1,812,565 2,174,657 +362,092
Belgium 2,661,262 1,246,940 -1,414,322
China 1,623,282 1,661,105 +37,823
Poland 1,535,042 1,594,832 +59,790
Italy 1,499,699 929,476 -570,223
Switzerland 1,111,421 997,447 -113,974
France 947,948 912,369 -35,579
Turkey 824,850 285,325 -539,525

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 11,186,787
United States 7,288,803
China 5,557,211
Poland 3,750,367
Italy 2,572,393

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 5,818,926 5,367,861 -451,065
United States 4,533,571 2,755,232 -1,778,339
China 2,835,957 2,721,254 -114,703
Poland 1,680,014 2,070,353 +390,339
Italy 1,525,683 1,046,710 -478,973
Switzerland 1,094,699 947,997 -146,702
Belgium 984,684 681,480 -303,204
Japan 920,058 721,344 -198,714
Netherlands 900,231 687,441 -212,790
United Kingdom 916,970 634,118 -282,852

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 29
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 20 16 -4
Greater Manchester 17 18 +1
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 19 13 -6
West Yorkshire 15 15 +0
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 11 15 +4
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 11 13 +2
Inner London - West 13 11 -2
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 12 7 -5
West Midlands 9 11 +2
Surrey, East and West Sussex 13 7 -6

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) 21,727,148
Air transport 17,744,671
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 7,409,567
Other 318,771
Road transport 257,463

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) 10,872,641 10,854,507 -18,134
Air transport 10,643,649 7,101,022 -3,542,627
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 4,201,782 3,207,785 -993,997
Other 213,236 105,535 -107,701
Road transport 181,074 76,389 -104,685
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 10,295,354
East Midlands Airport 5,633,111
London Stansted Airport 5,386,352
Eurotunnel 3,527,728
London Heathrow Airport 3,396,312

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 4,872,369 5,422,985 +550,616
East Midlands Airport 3,205,119 2,427,992 -777,127
London Stansted Airport 3,705,356 1,680,996 -2,024,360
Eurotunnel 1,750,602 1,777,126 +26,524
London Heathrow Airport 2,052,856 1,343,456 -709,400
Felixstowe 1,140,083 1,418,003 +277,920
London Gateway Port 1,549,309 741,563 -807,746
Birmingham Airport 933,517 1,011,329 +77,812
ZLC 1,066,765 480,335 -586,430
Killingholme 772,691 746,855 -25,836

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 65
Printing and reproduction of recorded media 43
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 40
Other manufacturing 38
Manufacture of rubber and plastic products 33

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 60
2025-10 59
2025-09 61
2025-08 69
2025-07 72

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 180
54m+ 138
15m-54m 41
0-1m 35
Other 21

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 7,848,619
United States 7,670,003
Ireland 3,450,816
France 2,775,074
Netherlands 1,914,991

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 3,846,976 4,001,643 +154,667
United States 4,295,397 3,374,606 -920,791
Ireland 2,064,257 1,386,559 -677,698
France 1,919,785 855,289 -1,064,496
Netherlands 1,082,540 832,451 -250,089
India 587,200 967,071 +379,871
Turkey 1,009,595 456,225 -553,370
Italy 830,292 622,935 -207,357
Spain 568,337 782,823 +214,486
Poland 845,324 457,619 -387,705

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 9,785
Finland 4,437
China 1,999
XU 481
Germany 263

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 9,148 637 -8,511
Finland 3,743 694 -3,049
China 0 1,999 +1,999
XU 421 60 -361
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 21,866,562
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 20,200,919
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 6,947,766
Road transport 210,239
Other 16,979

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 12,100,890 9,765,672 -2,335,218
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 11,357,803 8,843,116 -2,514,687
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 4,100,771 2,846,995 -1,253,776
Road transport 210,239 0 -210,239
Other 13,312 3,667 -9,645

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 15,777,338
East Midlands Airport 8,544,332
London Heathrow Airport 6,051,490
Manchester Airport 3,194,950
London Gateway Port 3,052,681

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 9,639,318 6,138,020 -3,501,298
East Midlands Airport 4,931,128 3,613,204 -1,317,924
London Heathrow Airport 3,317,455 2,734,035 -583,420
Manchester Airport 1,592,951 1,601,999 +9,048
London Gateway Port 2,122,237 930,444 -1,191,793
ZLC 1,429,510 1,300,561 -128,949
Immingham Docks 636,369 1,200,861 +564,492
Dover 641,219 755,545 +114,326
London Stansted Airport 904,216 469,796 -434,420
Southampton 503,896 791,491 +287,595

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