Import/export HS code 8479: Machines with specific functions

Machines and mechanical devices designed for unique tasks not covered elsewhere

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 1,371,216,819
United States 624,219,964
Netherlands 317,426,786
China 316,630,640
Italy 279,888,823

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 699,256,830 671,959,989 -27,296,841
United States 292,782,016 331,437,948 +38,655,932
Netherlands 150,431,507 166,995,279 +16,563,772
China 143,360,543 173,270,097 +29,909,554
Italy 141,681,145 138,207,678 -3,473,467
France 96,721,688 95,832,726 -888,962
Poland 70,600,710 78,322,320 +7,721,610
Switzerland 67,563,661 70,210,925 +2,647,264
Denmark 72,692,308 52,484,522 -20,207,786
Norway 60,910,386 63,207,597 +2,297,211

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 1,233,554,463
United States 768,350,152
China 432,086,549
Italy 313,861,966
United Kingdom 168,899,315

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 608,516,260 625,038,203 +16,521,943
United States 376,228,885 392,121,267 +15,892,382
China 199,796,797 232,289,752 +32,492,955
Italy 159,426,721 154,435,245 -4,991,476
United Kingdom 81,132,691 87,766,624 +6,633,933
Netherlands 70,731,267 80,006,658 +9,275,391
Poland 73,947,429 75,680,198 +1,732,769
Switzerland 72,656,471 75,909,488 +3,253,017
Denmark 65,164,020 51,372,824 -13,791,196
Sweden 48,296,137 53,801,704 +5,505,567

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 649
Inner London - West 491
West Midlands 442
Greater Manchester 437
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 399

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 460 475 +15
Inner London - West 336 339 +3
West Midlands 321 297 -24
Greater Manchester 318 318 +0
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 287 298 +11
West Yorkshire 288 277 -11
Surrey, East and West Sussex 291 279 -12
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 284 292 +8
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 285 271 -14
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 262 261 -1

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) 2,339,160,138
Air transport 1,376,582,383
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 875,052,351
Road transport 55,264,963
Other 38,050,156

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) 1,190,857,711 1,148,302,427 -42,555,284
Air transport 658,746,789 717,835,594 +59,088,805
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 404,331,441 470,720,910 +66,389,469
Road transport 26,428,062 28,836,901 +2,408,839
Other 23,606,509 14,443,647 -9,162,862
Rail transport 756,392 3,602,602 +2,846,210
Own propulsion (e.g. imported vehicle driven across land boundary) 0 232,627 +232,627

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 1,068,110,786
London Heathrow Airport 546,542,604
Felixstowe 340,672,601
Immingham Docks 313,217,717
Eurotunnel 244,727,871

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 512,854,412 555,256,374 +42,401,962
London Heathrow Airport 251,136,570 295,406,034 +44,269,464
Felixstowe 171,692,214 168,980,387 -2,711,827
Immingham Docks 145,951,384 167,266,333 +21,314,949
Eurotunnel 127,862,217 116,865,654 -10,996,563
East Midlands Airport 114,650,411 117,593,516 +2,943,105
Birmingham Airport 72,495,299 79,576,891 +7,081,592
Southampton 64,066,754 83,997,684 +19,930,930
Harwich 71,036,911 65,034,507 -6,002,404
Dover / Eurotunnel 84,048,423 49,492,387 -34,556,036

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 2021
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 846
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 708
Other manufacturing 651
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 526

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 1859
2025-11 2020
2025-10 2142
2025-09 1931
2025-08 1966

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 4284
54m+ 2680
0-1m 1298
15m-54m 1027
Other 602

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 633,169,920
Germany 316,185,705
Netherlands 166,954,583
France 150,156,203
Norway 139,702,378

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 345,805,465 287,364,455 -58,441,010
Germany 166,285,016 149,900,689 -16,384,327
Netherlands 84,460,076 82,494,507 -1,965,569
France 82,854,954 67,301,249 -15,553,705
Norway 81,206,188 58,496,190 -22,709,998
Ireland 77,147,115 53,026,281 -24,120,834
Brazil 54,037,032 57,644,921 +3,607,889
China 54,893,523 44,507,096 -10,386,427
Belgium 43,531,030 49,019,457 +5,488,427
Denmark 24,282,746 47,099,451 +22,816,705

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 11,506,606
Italy 1,363,779
Germany 507,924
Ireland 134,318
China 127,751

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 7,578,743 3,927,863 -3,650,880
Italy 723,908 639,871 -84,037
Germany 246,844 261,080 +14,236
Ireland 58,003 76,315 +18,312
China 84,328 43,423 -40,905
Netherlands 11,432 66,388 +54,956
Nicaragua 63,292 8,071 -55,221
Sweden 30,169 27,112 -3,057
Turkey 33,667 20,732 -12,935
Switzerland 44,266 2,502 -41,764

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) 1,161,695,892
Air transport 1,125,835,072
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 843,042,924
Other 14,646,807
Road transport 3,077,384

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) 584,239,496 577,456,396 -6,783,100
Air transport 584,619,947 541,215,125 -43,404,822
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 479,857,097 363,185,827 -116,671,270
Other 9,318,877 5,327,930 -3,990,947
Road transport 2,955,286 122,098 -2,833,188
Rail transport 91,960 79,590 -12,370

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 755,870,279
London Heathrow Airport 600,985,540
London Gateway Port 261,378,771
Immingham Docks 203,914,055
East Midlands Airport 182,251,487

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 389,337,902 366,532,377 -22,805,525
London Heathrow Airport 310,408,707 290,576,833 -19,831,874
London Gateway Port 155,487,054 105,891,717 -49,595,337
Immingham Docks 101,899,149 102,014,906 +115,757
East Midlands Airport 92,886,913 89,364,574 -3,522,339
Southampton 74,687,996 94,186,457 +19,498,461
Liverpool Docks 75,729,263 40,750,175 -34,979,088
London Stansted Airport 45,573,712 43,925,288 -1,648,424
Felixstowe 46,190,847 42,633,132 -3,557,715
Aberdeen Docks 51,792,004 31,796,970 -19,995,034

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 8479

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

Description: Machines and mechanical devices designed for unique tasks not covered elsewhere