Import/export HS code 9017: Drawing and measuring tools

Tools for drawing, marking, or calculating, like drafting machines, protractors, slide rules, and measuring tapes. Also includes hand tools for measuring length, such as micrometers and callipers

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 £
China 36,563,902
Germany 14,733,208
Thailand 13,645,656
United States 7,948,541
Netherlands 4,794,131

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 £
China 19,049,993 17,513,909 -1,536,084
Germany 7,513,907 7,219,301 -294,606
Thailand 7,856,931 5,788,725 -2,068,206
United States 4,182,317 3,766,224 -416,093
Netherlands 2,358,225 2,435,906 +77,681
France 2,036,286 1,504,053 -532,233
India 1,692,216 1,390,633 -301,583
Switzerland 1,324,022 1,062,047 -261,975
Italy 1,279,216 1,084,301 -194,915
Spain 870,059 740,409 -129,650

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 £
China 44,582,376
Thailand 14,002,674
United States 8,304,455
Germany 6,499,882
Japan 6,417,297

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 £
China 23,158,446 21,423,930 -1,734,516
Thailand 8,035,147 5,967,527 -2,067,620
United States 4,249,529 4,054,926 -194,603
Germany 3,385,380 3,114,502 -270,878
Japan 3,574,515 2,842,782 -731,733
United Kingdom 2,204,294 1,853,905 -350,389
India 1,642,525 1,318,548 -323,977
Switzerland 1,480,492 1,074,023 -406,469
Italy 1,165,892 838,069 -327,823
France 1,072,522 917,143 -155,379

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 91
West Midlands 84
Greater Manchester 79
Inner London - West 78
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 63

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 59 61 +2
West Midlands 63 54 -9
Greater Manchester 49 57 +8
Inner London - West 55 46 -9
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 42 42 +0
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 44 50 +6
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 45 44 -1
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 36 31 -5
Surrey, East and West Sussex 36 36 +0
West Yorkshire 41 30 -11

Import volume by transport

What this shows: Import value by transport mode used to bring goods into the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 55,160,906
Air transport 25,292,679
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 18,592,553
Other 1,076,061
Road transport 133,869

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 £
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 29,505,545 25,655,361 -3,850,184
Air transport 13,132,994 12,159,685 -973,309
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 9,925,333 8,667,220 -1,258,113
Other 727,490 348,571 -378,919
Road transport 84,498 49,371 -35,127
Rail transport 2,921 1,476 -1,445

Import volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
Felixstowe 26,463,466
Southampton 18,291,803
East Midlands Airport 8,417,637
London Gateway Port 6,499,818
Birmingham Airport 5,466,410

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 £
Felixstowe 15,037,758 11,425,708 -3,612,050
Southampton 11,618,169 6,673,634 -4,944,535
East Midlands Airport 4,104,164 4,313,473 +209,309
London Gateway Port 1,361,679 5,138,139 +3,776,460
Birmingham Airport 2,845,530 2,620,880 -224,650
Dover 2,721,785 2,593,539 -128,246
London Heathrow Airport 2,541,622 2,225,922 -315,700
London Stansted Airport 2,436,870 1,891,758 -545,112
Harwich 1,872,605 2,390,620 +518,015
Thamesport 1,387,046 1,181,011 -206,035

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 402
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 199
Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment 94
Other manufacturing 91
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 84

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2025-11 202
2025-10 239
2025-09 209
2025-08 217
2025-07 211

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 557
54m+ 457
0-1m 142
15m-54m 138
Other 101

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 14,431,756
Germany 10,370,122
Singapore 7,908,454
Ireland 7,323,670
Austria 4,616,880

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 7,493,365 6,938,391 -554,974
Germany 5,420,569 4,949,553 -471,016
Singapore 4,100,913 3,807,541 -293,372
Ireland 3,035,799 4,287,871 +1,252,072
Austria 2,231,170 2,385,710 +154,540
France 2,379,970 1,687,223 -692,747
Sweden 2,094,738 1,614,939 -479,799
United Arab Emirates 1,828,366 1,658,576 -169,790
Netherlands 1,250,743 2,200,639 +949,896
Turkey 1,673,628 1,589,458 -84,170

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 £
China 243,734
XI 111,357
Germany 92,411
Thailand 58,019
XU 15,121

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 £
China 119,718 124,016 +4,298
XI 79,336 32,021 -47,315
Germany 382 92,029 +91,647
Thailand 34,114 23,905 -10,209
XU 8,345 6,776 -1,569
Taiwan 7,752 7,191 -561
Hungary 3,327 6,302 +2,975
Ireland 2,550 818 -1,732
India 1,101 710 -391
Indonesia 121 1,589 +1,468

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 67,483,587
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 27,967,197
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 6,077,834
Other 556,079
Road transport 192,393

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 34,881,296 32,602,291 -2,279,005
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 13,503,174 14,464,023 +960,849
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 3,175,274 2,902,560 -272,714
Other 258,341 297,738 +39,397
Road transport 190,695 1,698 -188,997

Export volume by port

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

Top 5 values

Port £
East Midlands Airport 34,271,966
Dover / Eurotunnel 16,725,190
Manchester Airport 10,966,256
London Heathrow Airport 10,353,450
ZLC 7,298,314

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 £
East Midlands Airport 17,534,923 16,737,043 -797,880
Dover / Eurotunnel 8,219,757 8,505,433 +285,676
Manchester Airport 5,358,087 5,608,169 +250,082
London Heathrow Airport 5,291,958 5,061,492 -230,466
ZLC 4,165,614 3,132,700 -1,032,914
Immingham Docks 1,883,358 1,866,786 -16,572
Holyhead 1,823,662 1,865,064 +41,402
London Stansted Airport 1,801,361 1,342,543 -458,818
Dover 1,297,936 1,368,595 +70,659
London Gateway Port 1,643,118 896,824 -746,294

Related HS codes

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

Quick facts

HS code: 9017

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

Description: Tools for drawing, marking, or calculating, like drafting machines, protractors, slide rules, and measuring tapes. Also includes hand tools for measuring length, such as micrometers and callipers