Import/export HS code 8506: Primary cells and batteries

Non-rechargeable batteries and cells, including all types like manganese dioxide, lithium, and silver oxide

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 £
Belgium 286,856,595
China 125,180,094
United States 54,807,537
Germany 52,813,270
Netherlands 22,865,637

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 £
Belgium 148,405,682 138,450,913 -9,954,769
China 63,339,598 61,840,496 -1,499,102
United States 31,213,930 23,593,607 -7,620,323
Germany 26,698,761 26,114,509 -584,252
Netherlands 11,018,617 11,847,020 +828,403
France 9,137,762 9,181,721 +43,959
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 5,662,435 6,231,261 +568,826
Japan 5,431,538 3,169,302 -2,262,236
Ireland 1,910,076 1,781,556 -128,520
South Korea 1,723,162 1,703,728 -19,434

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 200,593,990
Belgium 188,887,490
United States 72,784,966
Germany 25,623,274
Poland 24,791,869

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 98,838,789 101,755,201 +2,916,412
Belgium 95,450,087 93,437,403 -2,012,684
United States 41,586,129 31,198,837 -10,387,292
Germany 13,846,420 11,776,854 -2,069,566
Poland 13,247,358 11,544,511 -1,702,847
Singapore 11,561,850 7,706,162 -3,855,688
Indonesia 8,269,752 4,755,041 -3,514,711
Japan 6,846,788 5,272,699 -1,574,089
France 5,068,213 5,509,913 +441,700
Switzerland 2,483,316 2,456,976 -26,340

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 127
Greater Manchester 91
Inner London - West 85
Outer London - West and North West 74
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 73

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 96 85 -11
Greater Manchester 60 63 +3
Inner London - West 62 46 -16
Outer London - West and North West 55 44 -11
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 50 53 +3
Surrey, East and West Sussex 55 52 -3
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 53 35 -18
West Midlands 46 45 -1
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 32 34 +2
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 30 24 -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) 275,209,005
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 234,380,858
Air transport 94,153,232
Other 9,800,761
Road transport 1,618,123

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) 148,421,989 126,787,016 -21,634,973
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 112,540,425 121,840,433 +9,300,008
Air transport 51,085,107 43,068,125 -8,016,982
Other 6,154,753 3,646,008 -2,508,745
Road transport 452,379 1,165,744 +713,365

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Eurotunnel 131,668,680
Felixstowe 90,009,091
Dover 89,520,172
Thamesport 67,347,635
London Stansted Airport 29,116,196

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 £
Eurotunnel 60,411,453 71,257,227 +10,845,774
Felixstowe 53,732,806 36,276,285 -17,456,521
Dover 49,948,282 39,571,890 -10,376,392
Thamesport 32,994,221 34,353,414 +1,359,193
London Stansted Airport 16,713,296 12,402,900 -4,310,396
Southampton 16,076,686 9,461,159 -6,615,527
London Gateway Port 4,728,709 18,225,306 +13,496,597
Manchester Airport 11,664,359 8,119,435 -3,544,924
Birmingham Airport 8,233,558 9,127,332 +893,774
Immingham Docks 11,068,639 5,404,265 -5,664,374

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 426
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 179
Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products 97
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 87
Manufacture of electrical equipment 85

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 241
2025-10 284
2025-09 236
2025-08 244
2025-07 256

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 540
54m+ 537
0-1m 169
15m-54m 150
Other 126

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 39,543,354
France 37,249,025
Ireland 16,468,850
Germany 14,019,393
Poland 11,897,507

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 20,733,919 18,809,435 -1,924,484
France 21,119,743 16,129,282 -4,990,461
Ireland 9,535,561 6,933,289 -2,602,272
Germany 8,785,257 5,234,136 -3,551,121
Poland 5,296,608 6,600,899 +1,304,291
Netherlands 7,016,686 3,277,898 -3,738,788
China 5,057,725 3,933,426 -1,124,299
Italy 4,146,698 3,467,229 -679,469
Spain 2,910,644 3,656,233 +745,589
Belgium 2,514,664 3,234,590 +719,926

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 710,703
China 354,981
Belgium 205,092
XU 193,840
Sweden 169,684

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 210,731 499,972 +289,241
China 171,314 183,667 +12,353
Belgium 121,603 83,489 -38,114
XU 96,966 96,874 -92
Sweden 0 169,684 +169,684
United States 50,855 45,174 -5,681
Slovenia 36,103 24,130 -11,973
Singapore 31,450 23,971 -7,479
Poland 22,461 15,080 -7,381
Ireland 10,789 17,099 +6,310

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 112,814,108
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 107,305,941
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 23,742,395
Other 1,970,651
Road transport 905,275

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 57,449,497 55,364,611 -2,084,886
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 59,870,112 47,435,829 -12,434,283
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 15,470,667 8,271,728 -7,198,939
Other 784,922 1,185,729 +400,807
Road transport 903,880 1,395 -902,485

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 78,310,053
London Heathrow Airport 54,027,775
East Midlands Airport 14,686,602
London Stansted Airport 12,994,495
Newcastle Airport 12,766,677

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 43,610,768 34,699,285 -8,911,483
London Heathrow Airport 28,734,833 25,292,942 -3,441,891
East Midlands Airport 7,909,278 6,777,324 -1,131,954
London Stansted Airport 6,066,730 6,927,765 +861,035
Newcastle Airport 6,324,625 6,442,052 +117,427
Dover 6,167,854 5,204,780 -963,074
ZLC 5,782,370 5,510,076 -272,294
Liverpool Docks 4,537,095 3,234,655 -1,302,440
London Gateway Port 3,251,398 2,907,830 -343,568
Holyhead 4,069,585 1,598,106 -2,471,479

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 8506

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

Description: Non-rechargeable batteries and cells, including all types like manganese dioxide, lithium, and silver oxide