{
  "id": 16729334,
  "title": "Finding UK importers of a product by HS code with HMRC's open data",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/27/finding-uk-importers-of-a-product-by-hs-code-with-hmrcs-open-data",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-27T09:27:48.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/yappman/finding-uk-importers-of-a-product-by-hs-code-with-hmrcs-open-data-4977"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "UK importers of a product, identified by HS code, can be found using HMRC's open data. This data provides monthly lists of importers and exporters by commodity code, but the raw files can be challenging to work with due to multiple code lengths and mixed names. This guide explains how to convert a product into a HS and CN8 code, search by code, flow, and month, and read the output in Python.\n\nRows in the data set come from an Apify Actor developed by the author, UK Importers and Exporters: HMRC Trade Data. Each row represents one trader, flow, and month, containing the outward code of the postcode and no full address, trade values, or volumes. Sole traders are excluded from the list, as only traders carrying an organization marker (Limited, Ltd, PLC, or LLP) are included.\n\nTo use the data, one must pick the longest HS code they are confident about, as shorter codes will return more traders. The code can be looked up in the UK Trade Tariff. Running a search involves providing commodity codes, flow (imports, exports, or both), and a month range. The example Task provided links to a 20-row sample of HS 8419 imports for August 2026, which costs about $0.045 to run.\n\nThe Python snippet provided demonstrates how to export the dataset as JSON and read the rows in Python, counting rows by flow, finding traders present in both flows, and showing the most common postcode districts. The rows include fields such as name, postcodeDistrict, flow, month, hs6Codes, and other related information. However, the data does not include address lines, full postcodes, or trade values/volumes.",
  "summary": "Not affiliated with HMRC. The data comes from HMRC UK Trade Info, published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If you sell something, source something or research a market, a common question is who in the UK already imports or exports it. HMRC publishes monthly lists of importers and exporters by commodity code, but the raw files are awkward: one file per month, codes at several lengths, and…",
  "key_points": [
    "UK importers identified by HS code via HMRC open data",
    "Guide explains HS and CN8 code conversion, searching by code, flow, and month",
    "Python snippet provided for exporting and reading dataset"
  ],
  "editors_take": "Leveraging HMRC open data through automated Python scripts transforms messy trade records into actionable intelligence for identifying corporate importers and analyzing commodity flows across specific UK postcode districts.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}