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 1,303,136,881
United States 612,427,434
China 308,397,508
Netherlands 304,977,226
Italy 267,868,101

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 713,096,770 590,040,111 -123,056,659
United States 302,599,226 309,828,208 +7,228,982
China 146,388,770 162,008,738 +15,619,968
Netherlands 151,549,659 153,427,567 +1,877,908
Italy 140,498,654 127,369,447 -13,129,207
France 92,959,195 90,304,581 -2,654,614
Poland 74,307,701 72,024,984 -2,282,717
Switzerland 69,095,490 63,449,098 -5,646,392
Norway 61,219,557 57,735,896 -3,483,661
Denmark 69,216,534 48,862,412 -20,354,122

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 1,174,357,577
United States 751,081,263
China 420,449,259
Italy 299,644,055
United Kingdom 158,335,989

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 620,886,241 553,471,336 -67,414,905
United States 388,879,649 362,201,614 -26,678,035
China 206,205,017 214,244,242 +8,039,225
Italy 157,283,047 142,361,008 -14,922,039
United Kingdom 82,531,966 75,804,023 -6,727,943
Poland 74,446,341 70,667,013 -3,779,328
Netherlands 71,903,820 72,538,019 +634,199
Switzerland 74,574,426 68,129,237 -6,445,189
Denmark 62,469,574 47,872,219 -14,597,355
Sweden 52,102,608 44,455,732 -7,646,876

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 634
Inner London - West 477
Greater Manchester 428
West Midlands 425
West Yorkshire 392

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 461 457 -4
Inner London - West 329 330 +1
Greater Manchester 318 306 -12
West Midlands 316 283 -33
West Yorkshire 291 270 -21
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 290 283 -7
Surrey, East and West Sussex 291 264 -27
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 283 284 +1
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 293 258 -35
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 261 248 -13

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) 2,225,378,731
Air transport 1,336,382,153
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 852,141,861
Road transport 53,711,852
Other 34,953,783

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) 1,199,663,467 1,025,715,264 -173,948,203
Air transport 671,893,092 664,489,061 -7,404,031
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 421,204,489 430,937,372 +9,732,883
Road transport 27,420,292 26,291,560 -1,128,732
Other 22,349,351 12,604,432 -9,744,919
Rail transport 918,467 3,364,248 +2,445,781
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 1,025,114,842
London Heathrow Airport 537,520,283
Felixstowe 328,538,569
Immingham Docks 299,613,830
Eurotunnel 233,268,789

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 539,930,186 485,184,656 -54,745,530
London Heathrow Airport 260,836,874 276,683,409 +15,846,535
Felixstowe 172,773,433 155,765,136 -17,008,297
Immingham Docks 149,200,607 150,413,223 +1,212,616
Eurotunnel 124,585,621 108,683,168 -15,902,453
East Midlands Airport 116,264,327 106,744,154 -9,520,173
Birmingham Airport 75,182,573 71,698,020 -3,484,553
Southampton 65,718,391 80,188,358 +14,469,967
Harwich 69,560,561 59,192,461 -10,368,100
Dover / Eurotunnel 68,334,710 44,149,162 -24,185,548

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 1983
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 826
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 698
Other manufacturing 642
Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment 513

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 1860
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 4185
54m+ 2633
0-1m 1260
15m-54m 1017
Other 590

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 603,266,853
Germany 302,230,795
Netherlands 160,725,871
France 142,191,256
Norway 130,413,632

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 342,439,375 260,827,478 -81,611,897
Germany 163,898,957 138,331,838 -25,567,119
Netherlands 84,755,600 75,970,271 -8,785,329
France 80,340,455 61,850,801 -18,489,654
Norway 76,009,494 54,404,138 -21,605,356
Ireland 73,372,441 48,928,330 -24,444,111
Brazil 52,986,219 54,736,255 +1,750,036
China 57,639,270 40,166,680 -17,472,590
Belgium 47,048,634 43,477,018 -3,571,616
Denmark 24,853,911 44,799,862 +19,945,951

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 10,820,840
Italy 1,288,214
Germany 500,032
Ireland 126,443
China 121,553

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 6,996,101 3,824,739 -3,171,362
Italy 716,739 571,475 -145,264
Germany 245,472 254,560 +9,088
Ireland 50,128 76,315 +26,187
China 81,090 40,463 -40,627
Netherlands 10,993 66,089 +55,096
Turkey 33,771 20,566 -13,205
Sweden 26,021 26,455 +434
Switzerland 44,218 2,502 -41,716
Nicaragua 38,135 8,071 -30,064

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) 1,120,376,754
Air transport 1,085,444,922
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 800,364,703
Other 13,735,051
Road transport 1,910,818

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) 590,508,837 529,867,917 -60,640,920
Air transport 586,342,277 499,102,645 -87,239,632
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 466,391,357 333,973,346 -132,418,011
Other 8,628,759 5,106,292 -3,522,467
Road transport 1,802,220 108,598 -1,693,622
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 725,165,611
London Heathrow Airport 580,835,270
London Gateway Port 254,706,292
Immingham Docks 198,721,899
East Midlands Airport 174,460,693

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 391,032,367 334,133,244 -56,899,123
London Heathrow Airport 311,974,703 268,860,567 -43,114,136
London Gateway Port 155,733,650 98,972,642 -56,761,008
Immingham Docks 103,408,125 95,313,774 -8,094,351
East Midlands Airport 93,217,601 81,243,092 -11,974,509
Southampton 79,262,650 83,755,448 +4,492,798
Liverpool Docks 70,608,873 37,733,024 -32,875,849
London Stansted Airport 44,575,155 40,698,708 -3,876,447
Felixstowe 43,594,758 41,084,527 -2,510,231
Aberdeen Docks 46,794,724 29,863,245 -16,931,479

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