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 284,710,101
China 129,454,772
United States 53,119,808
Germany 52,223,030
Netherlands 22,461,579

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 148,007,085 136,703,016 -11,304,069
China 67,483,650 61,971,122 -5,512,528
United States 30,857,261 22,262,547 -8,594,714
Germany 27,179,059 25,043,971 -2,135,088
Netherlands 10,937,839 11,523,740 +585,901
France 9,823,805 8,503,270 -1,320,535
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 6,275,277 6,071,915 -203,362
Japan 5,407,641 3,268,512 -2,139,129
South Korea 1,739,589 1,947,380 +207,791
Ireland 1,904,763 1,746,210 -158,553

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 205,985,547
Belgium 187,349,411
United States 70,607,981
Germany 24,935,768
Poland 24,282,335

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 104,673,401 101,312,146 -3,361,255
Belgium 95,237,849 92,111,562 -3,126,287
United States 41,543,768 29,064,213 -12,479,555
Germany 14,062,259 10,873,509 -3,188,750
Poland 12,913,680 11,368,655 -1,545,025
Singapore 11,166,740 8,080,086 -3,086,654
Indonesia 7,837,813 4,776,663 -3,061,150
Japan 6,708,493 5,350,951 -1,357,542
France 5,277,177 5,619,666 +342,489
Switzerland 2,416,044 2,397,546 -18,498

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 129
Greater Manchester 92
Inner London - West 84
Outer London - West and North West 72
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 71

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 97 86 -11
Greater Manchester 60 64 +4
Inner London - West 62 45 -17
Outer London - West and North West 59 39 -20
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 51 52 +1
Surrey, East and West Sussex 55 50 -5
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 52 31 -21
West Midlands 41 45 +4
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 33 34 +1
West Yorkshire 34 30 -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) 271,204,474
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 237,471,327
Air transport 94,836,639
Other 9,397,864
Road transport 2,111,717

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) 149,007,858 122,196,616 -26,811,242
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 115,729,590 121,741,737 +6,012,147
Air transport 52,031,135 42,805,504 -9,225,631
Other 6,225,035 3,172,829 -3,052,206
Road transport 432,910 1,678,807 +1,245,897

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Eurotunnel 131,242,252
Felixstowe 91,341,055
Dover 88,667,025
Thamesport 67,486,390
London Stansted Airport 29,293,189

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 61,248,498 69,993,754 +8,745,256
Felixstowe 59,161,626 32,179,429 -26,982,197
Dover 50,131,177 38,535,848 -11,595,329
Thamesport 33,336,004 34,150,386 +814,382
London Stansted Airport 16,789,543 12,503,646 -4,285,897
London Gateway Port 4,743,669 21,235,162 +16,491,493
Southampton 14,960,882 9,240,286 -5,720,596
Manchester Airport 11,502,617 7,938,653 -3,563,964
Birmingham Airport 9,176,063 8,216,497 -959,566
Immingham Docks 10,381,868 5,269,578 -5,112,290

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 422
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 178
Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products 97
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 89
Manufacture of electrical equipment 85

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 232
2025-11 242
2025-10 284
2025-09 237
2025-08 245

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
54m+ 540
1m-15m 537
0-1m 166
15m-54m 151
Other 124

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 39,910,410
France 36,241,440
Ireland 16,303,403
Germany 13,537,191
Poland 11,568,362

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 21,684,647 18,225,763 -3,458,884
France 19,682,269 16,559,171 -3,123,098
Ireland 9,491,156 6,812,247 -2,678,909
Germany 8,234,729 5,302,462 -2,932,267
Poland 5,028,844 6,539,518 +1,510,674
Netherlands 6,357,006 3,325,748 -3,031,258
China 5,157,850 3,726,281 -1,431,569
Italy 3,688,219 3,642,092 -46,127
Spain 3,022,304 3,661,265 +638,961
Canada 2,841,247 3,256,216 +414,969

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 774,899
China 345,230
Belgium 204,763
Sweden 169,684
Ireland 111,832

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 201,489 573,410 +371,921
China 182,927 162,303 -20,624
Belgium 131,246 73,517 -57,729
Sweden 0 169,684 +169,684
Ireland 13,187 98,645 +85,458
United States 58,713 36,562 -22,151
Slovenia 46,285 13,948 -32,337
Singapore 33,734 20,354 -13,380
Poland 24,006 13,535 -10,471
Indonesia 5,395 7,710 +2,315

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 113,184,663
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 106,412,703
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 22,701,189
Other 2,100,362
Road transport 489,400

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 58,988,561 54,196,102 -4,792,459
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 57,618,701 48,794,002 -8,824,699
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 13,769,320 8,931,869 -4,837,451
Other 828,103 1,272,259 +444,156
Road transport 489,400 0 -489,400

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover / Eurotunnel 76,514,095
London Heathrow Airport 54,232,913
East Midlands Airport 14,820,583
London Stansted Airport 13,064,367
Newcastle Airport 12,619,678

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 41,055,302 35,458,793 -5,596,509
London Heathrow Airport 29,681,538 24,551,375 -5,130,163
East Midlands Airport 8,160,159 6,660,424 -1,499,735
London Stansted Airport 6,153,859 6,910,508 +756,649
Newcastle Airport 6,472,144 6,147,534 -324,610
Dover 6,301,098 5,007,966 -1,293,132
ZLC 5,491,116 5,520,926 +29,810
Liverpool Docks 4,643,935 3,093,147 -1,550,788
London Gateway Port 3,274,243 3,212,693 -61,550
Holyhead 3,750,396 1,662,811 -2,087,585

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