Import/export HS code 8511: Electrical ignition and starting equipment for engines

Parts like spark plugs, ignition coils, and starter motors used in car or machinery engines

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 £
United States 262,133,715
Germany 156,179,804
China 147,677,006
France 101,303,576
Japan 79,778,758

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 £
United States 142,369,390 119,764,325 -22,605,065
Germany 79,428,107 76,751,697 -2,676,410
China 85,237,827 62,439,179 -22,798,648
France 63,098,744 38,204,832 -24,893,912
Japan 41,664,929 38,113,829 -3,551,100
Poland 26,296,960 23,973,910 -2,323,050
Belgium 25,178,360 22,341,158 -2,837,202
Turkey 20,554,374 24,735,010 +4,180,636
Netherlands 19,529,439 17,484,832 -2,044,607
Slovenia 15,911,061 17,014,123 +1,103,062

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 £
United States 311,896,574
China 187,619,198
Japan 148,923,363
France 98,291,373
Turkey 50,014,505

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 £
United States 164,985,072 146,911,502 -18,073,570
China 104,468,254 83,150,944 -21,317,310
Japan 78,413,675 70,509,688 -7,903,987
France 60,939,580 37,351,793 -23,587,787
Turkey 22,540,642 27,473,863 +4,933,221
Germany 25,732,392 21,642,472 -4,089,920
Slovenia 20,438,690 18,573,076 -1,865,614
India 15,731,042 16,662,176 +931,134
Poland 17,940,183 13,913,792 -4,026,391
Hungary 11,291,507 11,915,776 +624,269

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 100
West Midlands 75
Surrey, East and West Sussex 68
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 65
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 64

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 66 73 +7
West Midlands 55 55 +0
Surrey, East and West Sussex 54 51 -3
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 47 43 -4
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 52 49 -3
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 42 47 +5
Inner London - West 38 45 +7
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 40 43 +3
Essex 40 33 -7
Greater Manchester 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 £
Air transport 446,391,049
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 282,026,827
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 248,548,773
Other 120,215,521
Road transport 16,173,979

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 £
Air transport 236,420,274 209,970,775 -26,449,499
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 144,001,594 138,025,233 -5,976,361
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 127,390,579 121,158,194 -6,232,385
Other 74,945,572 45,269,949 -29,675,623
Road transport 15,602,306 571,673 -15,030,633
Rail transport 6,240,336 3,461,870 -2,778,466

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 272,796,344
000 120,215,521
Southampton 103,168,730
Felixstowe 84,009,057
Dover 79,057,041

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 £
London Heathrow Airport 146,735,494 126,060,850 -20,674,644
000 74,945,572 45,269,949 -29,675,623
Southampton 61,724,032 41,444,698 -20,279,334
Felixstowe 45,512,585 38,496,472 -7,016,113
Dover 34,962,956 44,094,085 +9,131,129
Birmingham Airport 34,374,115 29,593,050 -4,781,065
Eurotunnel 27,567,603 29,006,682 +1,439,079
Harwich 27,328,988 24,767,780 -2,561,208
East Midlands Airport 25,637,082 20,745,124 -4,891,958
Dover / Eurotunnel 25,064,701 12,007,105 -13,057,596

Importer companies by SIC division

What this shows: Industry breakdown (SIC divisions) of importing companies.

Top 5 values

SIC Companies
Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles 283
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 207
Repair and installation of machinery and equipment 99
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 70
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 68

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 318
2025-10 334
2025-09 306
2025-08 292
2025-07 324

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 491
54m+ 395
0-1m 138
15m-54m 127
Other 98

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 122,628,699
France 56,617,870
Germany 51,755,268
United Arab Emirates 44,663,815
Netherlands 43,911,751

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 65,754,208 56,874,491 -8,879,717
France 30,550,832 26,067,038 -4,483,794
Germany 24,667,618 27,087,650 +2,420,032
United Arab Emirates 20,110,876 24,552,939 +4,442,063
Netherlands 22,599,276 21,312,475 -1,286,801
India 22,072,271 14,333,449 -7,738,822
Poland 10,385,921 11,707,239 +1,321,318
Belgium 10,191,853 7,282,330 -2,909,523
Singapore 6,728,236 9,092,700 +2,364,464
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 6,512,215 8,291,491 +1,779,276

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 £
XU 157,537
China 146,040
XI 127,583
Japan 94,372
Germany 70,446

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 £
XU 85,990 71,547 -14,443
China 97,616 48,424 -49,192
XI 79,775 47,808 -31,967
Japan 49,917 44,455 -5,462
Germany 35,575 34,871 -704
Poland 24,420 27,806 +3,386
Taiwan 7,414 34,655 +27,241
France 7,304 5,898 -1,406
Thailand 4,133 3,478 -655
South Korea 6,239 302 -5,937

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 358,714,897
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 171,035,717
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 81,762,162
Road transport 856,784
Other 765,549

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 181,772,874 176,942,023 -4,830,851
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 89,980,481 81,055,236 -8,925,245
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 43,607,871 38,154,291 -5,453,580
Road transport 840,798 15,986 -824,812
Other 420,552 344,997 -75,555
Rail transport 925 0 -925

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 267,274,860
Dover / Eurotunnel 146,901,786
East Midlands Airport 34,632,022
London Stansted Airport 27,842,399
Immingham Docks 23,895,612

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 £
London Heathrow Airport 133,912,681 133,362,179 -550,502
Dover / Eurotunnel 77,491,489 69,410,297 -8,081,192
East Midlands Airport 18,893,690 15,738,332 -3,155,358
London Stansted Airport 13,333,802 14,508,597 +1,174,795
Immingham Docks 12,728,268 11,167,344 -1,560,924
Southampton 8,381,894 12,736,761 +4,354,867
London Gateway Port 11,315,290 9,693,076 -1,622,214
ZLC 10,195,322 7,455,173 -2,740,149
Felixstowe 7,761,123 4,024,455 -3,736,668
Holyhead 3,515,545 2,733,881 -781,664

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 8511

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

Description: Parts like spark plugs, ignition coils, and starter motors used in car or machinery engines