Import/export HS code 8538: Parts for electric control panels

Parts specifically designed for use with electric control panels, distribution boards, or similar devices

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 190,289,363
United States 103,970,715
France 103,051,165
China 85,224,404
Italy 66,507,722

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 96,140,472 94,148,891 -1,991,581
United States 53,297,013 50,673,702 -2,623,311
France 49,388,212 53,662,953 +4,274,741
China 43,028,387 42,196,017 -832,370
Italy 30,512,228 35,995,494 +5,483,266
India 30,873,048 31,388,456 +515,408
Netherlands 28,686,082 27,756,221 -929,861
Poland 14,633,267 26,625,478 +11,992,211
Spain 17,279,950 20,988,389 +3,708,439
Romania 15,290,717 19,461,844 +4,171,127

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 161,866,024
China 112,784,964
United States 96,205,542
India 68,666,033
United Kingdom 63,540,614

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 84,629,388 77,236,636 -7,392,752
China 57,552,654 55,232,310 -2,320,344
United States 47,322,430 48,883,112 +1,560,682
India 33,304,070 35,361,963 +2,057,893
United Kingdom 36,914,474 26,626,140 -10,288,334
Italy 30,455,502 32,320,879 +1,865,377
France 26,833,285 30,815,719 +3,982,434
Romania 27,315,290 28,941,007 +1,625,717
Poland 18,720,147 28,741,932 +10,021,785
Czechia 18,377,275 17,811,861 -565,414

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 376
Inner London - West 268
Surrey, East and West Sussex 258
Greater Manchester 219
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 218

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 264 267 +3
Inner London - West 186 172 -14
Surrey, East and West Sussex 194 182 -12
Greater Manchester 145 159 +14
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 155 156 +1
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 152 161 +9
West Midlands 158 138 -20
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 136 149 +13
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 136 133 -3
Shropshire and Staffordshire 133 140 +7

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 455,862,825
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 418,397,320
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 242,520,357
Other 20,457,185
Road transport 8,131,240

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 238,068,298 217,794,527 -20,273,771
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 189,238,621 229,158,699 +39,920,078
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 122,186,037 120,334,320 -1,851,717
Other 8,452,539 12,004,646 +3,552,107
Road transport 4,501,275 3,629,965 -871,310
Rail transport 212,751 895,129 +682,378

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 193,174,567
East Midlands Airport 150,092,518
London Heathrow Airport 125,998,670
Eurotunnel 95,441,854
London Stansted Airport 84,999,014

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 88,125,394 105,049,173 +16,923,779
East Midlands Airport 77,883,175 72,209,343 -5,673,832
London Heathrow Airport 63,067,971 62,930,699 -137,272
Eurotunnel 41,180,922 54,260,932 +13,080,010
London Stansted Airport 46,353,234 38,645,780 -7,707,454
Felixstowe 39,161,730 33,160,564 -6,001,166
Southampton 27,982,998 25,390,297 -2,592,701
Immingham Docks 18,395,610 33,827,988 +15,432,378
London Gateway Port 21,218,143 26,457,386 +5,239,243
Birmingham Airport 22,067,218 22,945,839 +878,621

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 961
Manufacture of electrical equipment 449
Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products 444
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 382
Repair and installation of machinery and equipment 330

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 967
2025-11 1003
2025-10 1075
2025-09 955
2025-08 963

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 2064
54m+ 1565
0-1m 571
15m-54m 508
Other 332

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 100,631,831
Germany 64,586,676
Ireland 35,140,337
France 33,263,811
Spain 29,954,211

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 50,134,051 50,497,780 +363,729
Germany 33,762,116 30,824,560 -2,937,556
Ireland 19,382,100 15,758,237 -3,623,863
France 17,544,542 15,719,269 -1,825,273
Spain 13,073,843 16,880,368 +3,806,525
Italy 14,002,366 12,886,823 -1,115,543
Netherlands 9,491,778 14,198,766 +4,706,988
Switzerland 9,665,571 11,769,932 +2,104,361
Lithuania 10,017,779 9,889,432 -128,347
Saudi Arabia 10,113,927 9,793,090 -320,837

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 5,066,297
Ireland 2,458,674
Switzerland 1,464,918
China 1,384,027
Italy 384,187

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 4,323,161 743,136 -3,580,025
Ireland 910,739 1,547,935 +637,196
Switzerland 978,494 486,424 -492,070
China 825,771 558,256 -267,515
Italy 67,818 316,369 +248,551
Spain 63,050 90,221 +27,171
Nicaragua 144,667 4,209 -140,458
Germany 49,288 79,005 +29,717
France 34,167 61,191 +27,024
India 25,297 36,957 +11,660

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 361,276,088
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 178,590,133
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 50,748,379
Other 11,404,252
Road transport 1,319,562

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 187,709,971 173,566,117 -14,143,854
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 87,679,525 90,910,608 +3,231,083
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 20,720,748 30,027,631 +9,306,883
Other 7,450,811 3,953,441 -3,497,370
Road transport 1,305,495 14,067 -1,291,428

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 132,447,437
Dover / Eurotunnel 124,963,485
East Midlands Airport 108,760,253
London Stansted Airport 47,023,345
ZLC 40,033,939

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 69,036,691 63,410,746 -5,625,945
Dover / Eurotunnel 65,538,184 59,425,301 -6,112,883
East Midlands Airport 59,368,973 49,391,280 -9,977,693
London Stansted Airport 23,433,121 23,590,224 +157,103
ZLC 19,930,913 20,103,026 +172,113
London Gateway Port 11,356,205 10,242,740 -1,113,465
Manchester Airport 10,135,313 11,288,296 +1,152,983
Southampton 2,610,768 15,059,492 +12,448,724
Holyhead 6,927,125 6,331,204 -595,921
Dover 6,258,432 6,233,153 -25,279

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 8538

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

Description: Parts specifically designed for use with electric control panels, distribution boards, or similar devices