Import/export HS code 8537: Electric control panels and distribution boards

Electric control panels and distribution boards with two or more devices for controlling or distributing electricity. These may include instruments or devices from Chapter 90 and numerical control systems, but not switching devices from heading 8517

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 1,043,425,633
United States 807,639,839
France 442,992,311
China 390,633,333
Netherlands 307,077,466

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 530,817,348 512,608,285 -18,209,063
United States 431,079,862 376,559,977 -54,519,885
France 181,287,179 261,705,132 +80,417,953
China 216,764,594 173,868,739 -42,895,855
Netherlands 152,708,707 154,368,759 +1,660,052
Ireland 85,627,566 90,812,466 +5,184,900
Spain 86,979,157 74,625,390 -12,353,767
Czechia 86,688,551 67,891,037 -18,797,514
Italy 68,342,592 69,072,956 +730,364
Poland 61,123,437 70,010,736 +8,887,299

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 980,661,413
Germany 686,738,050
China 509,366,952
France 337,344,362
United Kingdom 330,585,724

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 519,483,758 461,177,655 -58,306,103
Germany 344,302,241 342,435,809 -1,866,432
China 274,197,312 235,169,640 -39,027,672
France 129,484,551 207,859,811 +78,375,260
United Kingdom 162,669,508 167,916,216 +5,246,708
Czechia 106,236,759 82,235,472 -24,001,287
Romania 81,293,916 68,181,518 -13,112,398
Japan 69,087,815 71,879,362 +2,791,547
Poland 63,474,677 76,575,267 +13,100,590
Spain 76,449,349 63,352,172 -13,097,177

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 649
Surrey, East and West Sussex 458
Inner London - West 454
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 371
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 363

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 468 500 +32
Surrey, East and West Sussex 338 312 -26
Inner London - West 320 298 -22
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 277 274 -3
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 255 266 +11
Greater Manchester 250 257 +7
West Midlands 253 244 -9
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 237 242 +5
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 239 257 +18
Shropshire and Staffordshire 205 207 +2

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) 2,086,739,076
Air transport 2,080,764,832
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 503,797,602
Other 224,161,252
Road transport 74,517,250

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) 1,011,648,509 1,075,090,567 +63,442,058
Air transport 1,060,799,861 1,019,964,971 -40,834,890
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 253,265,975 250,531,627 -2,734,348
Other 139,229,579 84,931,673 -54,297,906
Road transport 57,235,863 17,281,387 -39,954,476
Rail transport 13,243,712 15,926,925 +2,683,213

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 971,754,308
Dover 826,991,054
London Stansted Airport 390,433,711
East Midlands Airport 385,682,453
Eurotunnel 334,458,380

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 516,437,176 455,317,132 -61,120,044
Dover 381,464,472 445,526,582 +64,062,110
London Stansted Airport 193,409,050 197,024,661 +3,615,611
East Midlands Airport 200,681,295 185,001,158 -15,680,137
Eurotunnel 185,731,331 148,727,049 -37,004,282
000 139,229,579 84,931,673 -54,297,906
Dover / Eurotunnel 124,654,704 89,495,521 -35,159,183
Felixstowe 104,824,752 105,995,976 +1,171,224
Immingham Docks 71,144,774 97,854,301 +26,709,527
Birmingham Airport 49,101,194 61,092,573 +11,991,379

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 1609
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 675
Repair and installation of machinery and equipment 530
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 472
Manufacture of electrical equipment 453

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 1812
2025-10 1950
2025-09 1849
2025-08 1790
2025-07 1897

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 3453
54m+ 2493
0-1m 1087
15m-54m 835
Other 559

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 808,277,838
Germany 367,629,929
France 178,637,759
Netherlands 177,103,934
China 140,964,175

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 399,136,346 409,141,492 +10,005,146
Germany 190,204,107 177,425,822 -12,778,285
France 94,386,586 84,251,173 -10,135,413
Netherlands 93,157,199 83,946,735 -9,210,464
China 72,325,591 68,638,584 -3,687,007
United Arab Emirates 67,457,924 69,015,787 +1,557,863
Ireland 48,783,830 59,393,950 +10,610,120
India 49,691,156 47,713,178 -1,977,978
Spain 44,678,578 36,502,896 -8,175,682
Poland 28,069,750 47,423,522 +19,353,772

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 28,395,995
Ireland 1,932,843
Italy 1,093,921
Sweden 1,044,850
Germany 713,716

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 7,394,367 21,001,628 +13,607,261
Ireland 260,441 1,672,402 +1,411,961
Italy 740,590 353,331 -387,259
Sweden 1,042,296 2,554 -1,039,742
Germany 282,918 430,798 +147,880
Spain 402,823 1,691 -401,132
Nicaragua 147,209 133,270 -13,939
XU 135,411 85,983 -49,428
Lithuania 203 187,561 +187,358
United States 110,959 34,826 -76,133

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 2,051,374,742
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 819,417,429
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 364,573,755
Other 34,749,543
Road transport 5,281,578

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 1,059,304,479 992,070,263 -67,234,216
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 377,654,200 441,763,229 +64,109,029
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 191,604,447 172,969,308 -18,635,139
Other 10,700,783 24,048,760 +13,347,977
Road transport 5,184,023 97,555 -5,086,468

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 1,067,792,052
Dover / Eurotunnel 563,940,066
East Midlands Airport 336,521,629
London Stansted Airport 313,433,279
ZLC 207,928,919

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 553,841,326 513,950,726 -39,890,600
Dover / Eurotunnel 262,055,179 301,884,887 +39,829,708
East Midlands Airport 175,120,051 161,401,578 -13,718,473
London Stansted Airport 139,851,953 173,581,326 +33,729,373
ZLC 125,916,252 82,012,667 -43,903,585
Immingham Docks 67,849,764 66,566,546 -1,283,218
Southampton 30,827,259 55,942,256 +25,114,997
London Gateway Port 46,419,297 37,938,962 -8,480,335
Manchester Airport 43,206,178 39,466,678 -3,739,500
Felixstowe 43,463,222 23,101,337 -20,361,885

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 8537

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

Description: Electric control panels and distribution boards with two or more devices for controlling or distributing electricity. These may include instruments or devices from Chapter 90 and numerical control systems, but not switching devices from heading 8517