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 1,365,223,773
United States 617,449,588
Netherlands 315,017,206
China 295,433,739
Italy 280,719,606

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 699,949,849 665,273,924 -34,675,925
United States 287,095,631 330,353,957 +43,258,326
Netherlands 148,542,502 166,474,704 +17,932,202
China 142,897,276 152,536,463 +9,639,187
Italy 142,215,047 138,504,559 -3,710,488
France 101,726,231 97,102,328 -4,623,903
Poland 69,615,048 77,783,366 +8,168,318
Switzerland 66,447,076 69,930,415 +3,483,339
Denmark 63,872,530 63,577,243 -295,287
Norway 58,836,776 65,235,595 +6,398,819

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 1,227,486,217
United States 761,488,073
China 412,581,447
Italy 316,432,560
United Kingdom 165,126,315

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 608,996,164 618,490,053 +9,493,889
United States 370,639,304 390,848,769 +20,209,465
China 198,317,561 214,263,886 +15,946,325
Italy 160,791,042 155,641,518 -5,149,524
United Kingdom 79,409,489 85,716,826 +6,307,337
Netherlands 70,895,505 80,846,225 +9,950,720
Poland 76,808,623 72,990,990 -3,817,633
Switzerland 69,439,271 76,344,161 +6,904,890
Denmark 58,542,721 60,600,236 +2,057,515
Sweden 48,818,841 54,069,674 +5,250,833

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 640
Inner London - West 487
West Midlands 443
Greater Manchester 430
Surrey, East and West Sussex 402

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 461 464 +3
Inner London - West 323 339 +16
West Midlands 323 295 -28
Greater Manchester 308 315 +7
Surrey, East and West Sussex 297 284 -13
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 290 291 +1
West Yorkshire 281 289 +8
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 288 285 -3
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 288 267 -21
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 265 251 -14

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) 2,334,805,430
Air transport 1,359,543,985
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 857,923,276
Road transport 54,192,404
Other 39,344,956

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) 1,181,828,789 1,152,976,641 -28,852,148
Air transport 647,351,746 712,192,239 +64,840,493
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 403,617,024 454,306,252 +50,689,228
Road transport 26,267,720 27,924,684 +1,656,964
Other 23,518,005 15,826,951 -7,691,054
Rail transport 560,457 3,777,407 +3,216,950
Own propulsion (e.g. imported vehicle driven across land boundary) 0 177,011 +177,011

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 1,071,161,090
London Heathrow Airport 534,920,795
Felixstowe 327,593,158
Immingham Docks 313,736,446
Eurotunnel 243,119,159

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 518,601,244 552,559,846 +33,958,602
London Heathrow Airport 245,615,464 289,305,331 +43,689,867
Felixstowe 167,995,682 159,597,476 -8,398,206
Immingham Docks 145,012,976 168,723,470 +23,710,494
Eurotunnel 130,312,435 112,806,724 -17,505,711
East Midlands Airport 116,119,051 117,407,806 +1,288,755
Birmingham Airport 70,994,565 78,518,851 +7,524,286
Southampton 66,850,522 71,640,795 +4,790,273
Harwich 71,652,197 63,855,177 -7,797,020
Dover / Eurotunnel 80,345,854 54,231,431 -26,114,423

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 699
Other manufacturing 653
Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment 529

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 2018
2025-10 2142
2025-09 1931
2025-08 1966
2025-07 2080

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 4283
54m+ 2677
0-1m 1293
15m-54m 1024
Other 588

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 630,363,462
Germany 315,968,874
Netherlands 167,555,446
France 152,303,758
Norway 141,190,405

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 334,978,523 295,384,939 -39,593,584
Germany 167,158,239 148,810,635 -18,347,604
Netherlands 84,065,524 83,489,922 -575,602
France 84,457,370 67,846,388 -16,610,982
Norway 81,754,818 59,435,587 -22,319,231
Ireland 77,958,052 53,785,622 -24,172,430
Brazil 52,232,719 52,043,098 -189,621
China 53,288,635 46,632,730 -6,655,905
Belgium 44,163,378 48,322,141 +4,158,763
Saudi Arabia 31,931,751 38,388,474 +6,456,723

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 12,033,309
Italy 1,395,022
Germany 510,754
XU 503,702
China 130,859

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 7,889,048 4,144,261 -3,744,787
Italy 715,442 679,580 -35,862
Germany 241,052 269,702 +28,650
XU 337,121 166,581 -170,540
China 74,177 56,682 -17,495
Ireland 58,702 23,991 -34,711
Netherlands 12,572 66,755 +54,183
Nicaragua 64,839 8,071 -56,768
Sweden 27,620 29,891 +2,271
Turkey 8,233 46,291 +38,058

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) 1,148,511,630
Air transport 1,109,397,892
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 866,917,619
Other 15,149,389
Road transport 3,937,024

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) 569,521,649 578,989,981 +9,468,332
Air transport 581,862,277 527,535,615 -54,326,662
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 481,132,746 385,784,873 -95,347,873
Other 9,578,680 5,570,709 -4,007,971
Road transport 3,821,407 115,617 -3,705,790
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 750,273,235
London Heathrow Airport 591,027,114
London Gateway Port 263,314,352
Immingham Docks 202,231,698
East Midlands Airport 182,955,063

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 384,946,259 365,326,976 -19,619,283
London Heathrow Airport 308,536,196 282,490,918 -26,045,278
London Gateway Port 140,085,960 123,228,392 -16,857,568
Immingham Docks 100,306,182 101,925,516 +1,619,334
East Midlands Airport 93,740,908 89,214,155 -4,526,753
Southampton 76,063,782 93,336,150 +17,272,368
Liverpool Docks 77,150,555 43,538,326 -33,612,229
Felixstowe 47,441,901 45,852,628 -1,589,273
London Stansted Airport 45,835,479 43,416,840 -2,418,639
Aberdeen Docks 54,416,387 32,784,152 -21,632,235

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