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How much of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s trade passes through the Cape of Good Hope?

In 2024, an estimated $30.9 billion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s trade passed through the Cape of Good Hope, 82.7% of its seaborne trade. That is $24.6 billion of exports and $6.3 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, India and South Africa.

Summary

Estimated value
$30.9billion
Of its seaborne trade
82.7%
Exports
$24.6billion
Imports
$6.3billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s estimated trade through the Cape of Good Hope rose 113% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Democratic Republic of the Congo 30.9

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$514 million23.2%
1996$507 million21.5%
1997$420 million22.5%
1998$295 million18.5%
1999$171 million11.3%
2000$198 million12.7%
2001$160 million10.6%
2002$254 million12.8%
2003$309 million18%
2004$498 million24.4%
2005$694 million27.1%
2006$1.9 billion48.8%
2007$1.3 billion40.5%
2008$3 billion55%
2009$2.3 billion55.1%
2010$4.2 billion61.5%
2011$5.3 billion57.3%
2012$6.5 billion68.6%
2013$5.8 billion60.8%
2014$6.4 billion61.1%
2015$8 billion65.8%
2016$6.5 billion65.6%
2017$11.6 billion74.2%
2018$17.1 billion79.3%
2019$14.5 billion75.6%
2020$18.1 billion80.1%
2021$27.6 billion84.3%
2022$32.5 billion80.8%
2023$41.8 billion81.5%
2024$30.9 billion82.7%

Partners whose trade crosses it

Estimated value of its trade with each partner that crosses the chokepoint; the percentage is the share of all its trade through the chokepoint, not of the pair’s trade.

  1. Democratic Republic of the Congo–China$25.5 billion · 82.6%
  2. Democratic Republic of the Congo–India$1.1 billion · 3.7%
  3. Democratic Republic of the Congo–South Africa$1 billion · 3.3%
  4. Democratic Republic of the Congo–South Korea$993 million · 3.2%
  5. Democratic Republic of the Congo–Thailand$446 million · 1.4%
  6. Democratic Republic of the Congo–Saudi Arabia$440 million · 1.4%
  7. Democratic Republic of the Congo–Malaysia$340 million · 1.1%
  8. Democratic Republic of the Congo–Kenya$259 million · 0.84%
  9. Democratic Republic of the Congo–Tanzania$213 million · 0.69%
  10. Democratic Republic of the Congo–Japan$170 million · 0.55%

What crosses it

The products with the highest estimated value in 2024, with their share of the total through the chokepoint.

  1. Refined copper$16.3 billion · 52.8%
  2. Cobalt$3 billion · 9.9%
  3. Copper ore$2.6 billion · 8.4%
  4. Unrefined copper$1.1 billion · 3.6%
  5. Tin ore$602 million · 2%
  6. Crude petroleum$467 million · 1.5%
  7. Trucks$288 million · 0.93%
  8. Cocoa beans$230 million · 0.74%
  9. Sorting and crushing machines$211 million · 0.68%
  10. Medicines in measured doses or retail packs$164 million · 0.53%

Reference ports

Matadi (100%)

Each port with the weight it receives from the country’s trade, based on where its GDP is generated and which coast is closest.

Other chokepoints it uses

Sources and method

Sources and licenses

Methodology

We estimate the value crossing each chokepoint from BACI trade that travels by sea according to our mode heuristic, split between each country’s ports by where its GDP is generated and which coast is closest, and routed over our own sea network. It is an estimate, not a count of ships. It covers 99.9% of seaborne trade. The approach follows Verschuur, Lumma and Hall (Nature Communications, 2025). Data up to 2024.

All maritime chokepoints