Import/export HS code 8472: Office machines

Machines used in offices, like duplicators, coin sorters, or staplers

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 43,042,975
France 24,401,867
Netherlands 16,970,834
Germany 16,282,946
India 13,922,745

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 24,807,468 18,235,507 -6,571,961
France 10,246,208 14,155,659 +3,909,451
Netherlands 5,489,828 11,481,006 +5,991,178
Germany 9,523,835 6,759,111 -2,764,724
India 6,577,024 7,345,721 +768,697
Hungary 3,143,896 8,972,155 +5,828,259
South Korea 3,626,624 5,512,311 +1,885,687
United States 3,306,455 3,515,873 +209,418
Mexico 3,932,019 2,332,086 -1,599,933
Italy 2,524,517 1,742,117 -782,400

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 53,173,744
Germany 26,637,582
India 14,529,757
Hungary 11,180,611
South Korea 9,993,166

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 29,827,797 23,345,947 -6,481,850
Germany 8,743,228 17,894,354 +9,151,126
India 7,115,309 7,414,448 +299,139
Hungary 3,785,470 7,395,141 +3,609,671
South Korea 3,980,862 6,012,304 +2,031,442
United States 3,402,333 4,180,540 +778,207
Mexico 3,973,508 2,489,963 -1,483,545
Philippines 1,595,579 4,422,902 +2,827,323
Italy 2,458,259 2,756,055 +297,796
France 4,448,902 336,852 -4,112,050

Importers across UK regions

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

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Inner London - West 33
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 28
Greater Manchester 21
West Midlands 18
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 17

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 22 17 -5
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 20 22 +2
Greater Manchester 16 14 -2
West Midlands 13 14 +1
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 10 14 +4
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 11 12 +1
Outer London - West and North West 11 8 -3
Inner London - East 9 12 +3
Surrey, East and West Sussex 10 10 +0
West Yorkshire 9 5 -4

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) 69,655,964
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 66,986,642
Air transport 26,934,705
Other 1,944,059
Road transport 1,117,027

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) 29,399,171 40,256,793 +10,857,622
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 34,477,633 32,509,009 -1,968,624
Air transport 14,198,947 12,735,758 -1,463,189
Other 1,226,985 717,074 -509,911
Road transport 68,414 1,048,613 +980,199

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 33,136,627
Felixstowe 33,034,673
London Gateway Port 18,071,391
Eurotunnel 11,921,935
London Heathrow Airport 11,396,215

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 11,838,746 21,297,881 +9,459,135
Felixstowe 19,255,331 13,779,342 -5,475,989
London Gateway Port 7,387,577 10,683,814 +3,296,237
Eurotunnel 6,393,315 5,528,620 -864,695
London Heathrow Airport 5,593,193 5,803,022 +209,829
Southampton 6,498,254 3,738,026 -2,760,228
Liverpool Docks 2,510,416 6,195,308 +3,684,892
Birmingham Airport 2,225,318 3,315,481 +1,090,163
Immingham Docks 1,955,069 3,409,115 +1,454,046
London 2,120,930 1,964,590 -156,340

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
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 67
Computer programming, consultancy and related activities 28
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 26
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 26

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 64
2025-10 69
2025-09 59
2025-08 54
2025-07 77

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 122
54m+ 99
0-1m 45
15m-54m 43
Other 40

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 £
United States 37,333,120
Netherlands 26,542,627
Germany 10,358,087
France 10,117,600
Italy 5,397,808

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 £
United States 19,161,119 18,172,001 -989,118
Netherlands 13,342,095 13,200,532 -141,563
Germany 4,309,848 6,048,239 +1,738,391
France 4,879,506 5,238,094 +358,588
Italy 3,307,296 2,090,512 -1,216,784
Spain 2,733,731 2,130,640 -603,091
Ireland 2,353,163 1,805,336 -547,827
Mexico 1,400,995 1,625,613 +224,618
South Africa 1,401,827 1,024,980 -376,847
Hungary 1,665,569 753,224 -912,345

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 £
Philippines 723,566
Austria 184,952
China 105,821
XI 4,663
XU 2,752

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 £
Philippines 184,238 539,328 +355,090
Austria 171,035 13,917 -157,118
China 34,869 70,952 +36,083
XI 552 4,111 +3,559
XU 1,703 1,049 -654
Ireland 2,536 89 -2,447
Switzerland 7 0 -7

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) 70,813,612
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 34,602,595
Air transport 27,446,203
Other 1,024,386
Rail transport 21,584

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) 36,963,569 33,850,043 -3,113,526
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 17,339,686 17,262,909 -76,777
Air transport 13,418,884 14,027,319 +608,435
Other 394,940 629,446 +234,506
Rail transport 21,584 0 -21,584
Road transport 16,629 2,581 -14,048

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 52,345,803
Southampton 21,588,811
London Heathrow Airport 17,239,165
London Gateway Port 8,209,203
Dover 7,636,080

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 27,855,569 24,490,234 -3,365,335
Southampton 11,091,399 10,497,412 -593,987
London Heathrow Airport 8,402,707 8,836,458 +433,751
London Gateway Port 3,766,463 4,442,740 +676,277
Dover 4,453,807 3,182,273 -1,271,534
Immingham Docks 1,832,054 2,691,467 +859,413
East Midlands Airport 2,016,867 2,463,603 +446,736
Manchester Airport 1,883,647 1,641,440 -242,207
Holyhead 1,709,966 1,527,952 -182,014
Liverpool Docks 1,020,276 1,660,514 +640,238

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 8472

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

Description: Machines used in offices, like duplicators, coin sorters, or staplers