Import/export HS code 9012: Non-optical microscopes and diffraction devices

Microscopes that don’t use light, such as electron microscopes, and tools for studying light diffraction

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 49,277,578
Netherlands 25,596,916
Czechia 22,604,176
United States 19,133,996
Japan 11,244,146

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 25,769,985 23,507,593 -2,262,392
Netherlands 6,951,408 18,645,508 +11,694,100
Czechia 14,628,890 7,975,286 -6,653,604
United States 9,891,121 9,242,875 -648,246
Japan 4,633,269 6,610,877 +1,977,608
Switzerland 1,830,806 2,099,970 +269,164
Austria 2,215,793 1,411,282 -804,511
Canada 1,755,314 1,818,738 +63,424
China 1,193,955 814,756 -379,199
India 866,472 813,322 -53,150

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 44,818,220
Netherlands 19,903,583
Czechia 19,743,143
United States 18,622,012
Japan 12,648,331

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 24,326,084 20,492,136 -3,833,948
Netherlands 4,610,161 15,293,422 +10,683,261
Czechia 13,466,145 6,276,998 -7,189,147
United States 8,914,283 9,707,729 +793,446
Japan 4,899,141 7,749,190 +2,850,049
United Kingdom 2,898,089 3,101,895 +203,806
Switzerland 2,082,191 2,277,168 +194,977
Austria 2,611,536 1,653,406 -958,130
Canada 1,739,105 1,554,222 -184,883
China 1,141,351 972,507 -168,844

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 46
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 29
Surrey, East and West Sussex 28
Inner London - West 21
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 15

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 32 31 -1
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 19 21 +2
Surrey, East and West Sussex 17 16 -1
Inner London - West 15 10 -5
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 10 9 -1
Inner London - East 12 10 -2
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 11 8 -3
West Midlands 10 6 -4
Kent 10 7 -3
Outer London - West and North West 9 6 -3

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) 70,840,255
Air transport 63,253,110
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 10,241,330
Other 6,676,396
Road transport 136,377

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) 33,508,212 37,332,043 +3,823,831
Air transport 32,542,717 30,710,393 -1,832,324
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 4,300,747 5,940,583 +1,639,836
Other 3,066,966 3,609,430 +542,464
Road transport 122,468 13,909 -108,559

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 32,949,963
East Midlands Airport 25,660,908
London Stansted Airport 16,694,184
London Heathrow Airport 15,553,676
Harwich 13,962,789

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 18,074,535 14,875,428 -3,199,107
East Midlands Airport 13,541,965 12,118,943 -1,423,022
London Stansted Airport 9,586,991 7,107,193 -2,479,798
London Heathrow Airport 6,759,275 8,794,401 +2,035,126
Harwich 5,013,432 8,949,357 +3,935,925
Eurotunnel 5,206,746 3,885,230 -1,321,516
Southampton 2,289,966 4,521,602 +2,231,636
000 3,066,966 3,609,430 +542,464
Felixstowe 820,729 5,644,154 +4,823,425
Dover / Eurotunnel 3,052,040 2,433,833 -618,207

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 88
Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products 49
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 34
Other professional, scientific and technical activities 33
Scientific research and development 26

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 39
2025-11 49
2025-10 45
2025-09 52
2025-08 49

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+ 135
1m-15m 122
0-1m 44
Other 31
15m-54m 23

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 £
China 147,798,134
Germany 61,574,032
United States 28,226,198
Netherlands 16,057,040
South Korea 10,621,775

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 £
China 82,020,345 65,777,789 -16,242,556
Germany 34,728,609 26,845,423 -7,883,186
United States 16,214,974 12,011,224 -4,203,750
Netherlands 4,106,069 11,950,971 +7,844,902
South Korea 5,438,204 5,183,571 -254,633
India 3,591,901 5,483,341 +1,891,440
France 3,890,998 3,770,772 -120,226
Italy 3,914,598 3,329,968 -584,630
Japan 3,482,111 3,411,693 -70,418
Taiwan 3,766,392 2,386,548 -1,379,844

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 £
Netherlands 1,163,177
Ireland 809,048
XI 168,017
United States 72,097
Italy 53,975

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 £
Netherlands 589,839 573,338 -16,501
Ireland 105,089 703,959 +598,870
XI 151,291 16,726 -134,565
United States 72,097 0 -72,097
Italy 45,664 8,311 -37,353
France 1,349 0 -1,349

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 249,599,204
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 89,952,765
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 8,878,839
Other 2,445,087
Road transport 255,647

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 136,821,947 112,777,257 -24,044,690
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 43,842,447 46,110,318 +2,267,871
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 6,100,592 2,778,247 -3,322,345
Other 1,042,973 1,402,114 +359,141
Road transport 225,438 30,209 -195,229

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 196,900,357
Dover / Eurotunnel 75,052,616
ZLC 17,192,942
East Midlands Airport 16,688,833
London Stansted Airport 12,439,025

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 106,500,946 90,399,411 -16,101,535
Dover / Eurotunnel 41,632,529 33,420,087 -8,212,442
ZLC 8,286,855 8,906,087 +619,232
East Midlands Airport 8,784,617 7,904,216 -880,401
London Stansted Airport 7,998,013 4,441,012 -3,557,001
Harwich 383,244 9,583,463 +9,200,219
Belfast Airport 4,422,963 78,201 -4,344,762
London Gateway Port 2,410,094 1,648,700 -761,394
Felixstowe 2,163,966 1,283,065 -880,901
000 1,042,973 1,402,114 +359,141

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 9012

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

Description: Microscopes that don’t use light, such as electron microscopes, and tools for studying light diffraction