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 49,170,775
Netherlands 24,792,525
Czechia 22,630,295
United States 20,668,670
Japan 11,754,614

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 26,902,393 22,268,382 -4,634,011
Netherlands 7,267,283 17,525,242 +10,257,959
Czechia 14,614,675 8,015,620 -6,599,055
United States 11,555,043 9,113,627 -2,441,416
Japan 4,646,331 7,108,283 +2,461,952
Switzerland 2,221,691 2,011,607 -210,084
Austria 2,123,665 1,487,059 -636,606
Canada 1,766,014 1,788,903 +22,889
China 1,176,586 834,559 -342,027
Ireland 582,851 1,043,803 +460,952

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 44,895,832
United States 20,108,613
Czechia 19,742,618
Netherlands 18,993,749
Japan 13,173,887

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 25,413,698 19,482,134 -5,931,564
United States 10,655,207 9,453,406 -1,201,801
Czechia 13,470,967 6,271,651 -7,199,316
Netherlands 4,759,379 14,234,370 +9,474,991
Japan 4,996,437 8,177,450 +3,181,013
United Kingdom 2,783,296 3,170,555 +387,259
Switzerland 2,469,934 2,080,069 -389,865
Austria 2,550,924 1,713,039 -837,885
Canada 1,749,158 1,533,598 -215,560
China 1,087,476 1,012,490 -74,986

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 49
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 31
Surrey, East and West Sussex 27
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 34 34 +0
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 21 21 +0
Surrey, East and West Sussex 16 15 -1
Inner London - West 15 10 -5
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 10 8 -2
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 11 9 -2
Inner London - East 11 10 -1
West Midlands 9 7 -2
Outer London - West and North West 10 6 -4
Greater Manchester 8 8 +0

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) 70,108,251
Air transport 64,555,558
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 10,691,942
Other 6,679,067
Road transport 437,980

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) 34,197,960 35,910,291 +1,712,331
Air transport 34,753,941 29,801,617 -4,952,324
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 4,344,445 6,347,497 +2,003,052
Other 3,213,206 3,465,861 +252,655
Road transport 419,139 18,841 -400,298

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Dover 32,380,562
East Midlands Airport 25,674,934
London Heathrow Airport 16,850,155
London Stansted Airport 16,628,742
Harwich 14,027,494

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 18,259,514 14,121,048 -4,138,466
East Midlands Airport 13,846,988 11,827,946 -2,019,042
London Heathrow Airport 8,412,762 8,437,393 +24,631
London Stansted Airport 9,684,045 6,944,697 -2,739,348
Harwich 5,078,137 8,949,357 +3,871,220
Eurotunnel 5,464,841 3,436,620 -2,028,221
Southampton 2,229,706 4,842,895 +2,613,189
000 3,213,206 3,465,861 +252,655
Felixstowe 895,618 5,672,584 +4,776,966
Dover / Eurotunnel 3,112,255 2,188,769 -923,486

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 93
Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products 49
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 35
Other professional, scientific and technical activities 33
Scientific research and development 28

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 49
2025-10 45
2025-09 52
2025-08 49
2025-07 47

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+ 139
1m-15m 126
0-1m 43
Other 31
15m-54m 24

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 151,296,165
Germany 63,282,972
United States 29,118,335
Netherlands 15,994,839
South Korea 9,857,225

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 84,574,135 66,722,030 -17,852,105
Germany 36,717,836 26,565,136 -10,152,700
United States 16,597,071 12,521,264 -4,075,807
Netherlands 3,987,328 12,007,511 +8,020,183
South Korea 5,282,205 4,575,020 -707,185
India 3,232,835 5,446,402 +2,213,567
France 3,924,606 3,751,912 -172,694
Italy 3,880,774 3,638,712 -242,062
Japan 3,710,399 3,295,950 -414,449
Taiwan 3,762,185 2,104,748 -1,657,437

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 1,177,617
Ireland 725,664
XU 180,043
XI 167,750
United States 72,097

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 671,565 506,052 -165,513
Ireland 71,541 654,123 +582,582
XU 75,936 104,107 +28,171
XI 53,755 113,995 +60,240
United States 72,097 0 -72,097
Italy 45,664 8,311 -37,353
France 1,606 0 -1,606

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 252,012,860
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 91,187,114
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 8,783,691
Other 2,378,752
Road transport 310,576

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 139,189,061 112,823,799 -26,365,262
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 45,341,016 45,846,098 +505,082
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 6,296,476 2,487,215 -3,809,261
Other 992,164 1,386,588 +394,424
Road transport 300,428 10,148 -290,280

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 198,492,024
Dover / Eurotunnel 76,517,420
East Midlands Airport 17,291,700
ZLC 16,816,820
London Stansted Airport 12,539,013

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 107,982,130 90,509,894 -17,472,236
Dover / Eurotunnel 43,446,177 33,071,243 -10,374,934
East Midlands Airport 9,496,991 7,794,709 -1,702,282
ZLC 8,023,799 8,793,021 +769,222
London Stansted Airport 8,139,090 4,399,923 -3,739,167
Harwich 366,329 9,600,378 +9,234,049
Belfast Airport 5,009,615 108,280 -4,901,335
London Gateway Port 2,409,924 1,352,471 -1,057,453
Felixstowe 2,160,932 1,286,099 -874,833
000 992,164 1,386,588 +394,424

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