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How much of Iraq’s trade passes through the Cape of Good Hope?

In 2024, an estimated $33.6 billion of Iraq’s trade passed through the Cape of Good Hope, 23.2% of its seaborne trade. That is $22.9 billion of exports and $10.7 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are the United States, Greece and Turkey.

Summary

Estimated value
$33.6billion
Of its seaborne trade
23.2%
Exports
$22.9billion
Imports
$10.7billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Iraq’s estimated trade through the Cape of Good Hope rose 2,995% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Iraq 33.6

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$00%
1996$6 million3.5%
1997$40 million1.2%
1998$36 million0.6%
1999$168 million1.4%
2000$276 million1.6%
2001$85 million0.6%
2002$433 million3.5%
2003$345 million3.2%
2004$596 million2.7%
2005$604 million2.4%
2006$769 million2.3%
2007$402 million0.9%
2008$1.4 billion2%
2009$1.3 billion2.6%
2010$1.1 billion1.7%
2011$1.4 billion1.5%
2012$1.5 billion1.3%
2013$1.2 billion1%
2014$1.7 billion1.5%
2015$983 million1.3%
2016$713 million1%
2017$1.2 billion1.3%
2018$1.2 billion1%
2019$1.1 billion0.9%
2020$910 million1%
2021$889 million0.7%
2022$888 million0.5%
2023$1.4 billion0.9%
2024$33.6 billion23.2%

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. Iraq–United States$5.7 billion · 16.8%
  2. Iraq–Greece$4.7 billion · 13.9%
  3. Iraq–Turkey$4.5 billion · 13.3%
  4. Iraq–Netherlands$3.8 billion · 11.4%
  5. Iraq–Italy$2.9 billion · 8.7%
  6. Iraq–Germany$2.2 billion · 6.6%
  7. Iraq–France$2.1 billion · 6.1%
  8. Iraq–Brazil$1.9 billion · 5.7%
  9. Iraq–Spain$1.2 billion · 3.5%
  10. Iraq–Bulgaria$821 million · 2.4%

What crosses it

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

  1. Crude petroleum$18.7 billion · 55.6%
  2. Refined petroleum$3.7 billion · 10.9%
  3. Cane and beet sugar$719 million · 2.1%
  4. Cars$590 million · 1.8%
  5. Live cattle$492 million · 1.5%
  6. Poultry meat$476 million · 1.4%
  7. Petroleum coke and bitumen$424 million · 1.3%
  8. Wheat flour$383 million · 1.1%
  9. Sunflower, safflower and cottonseed oil$342 million · 1%
  10. Dried legumes (beans, lentils, peas)$319 million · 0.95%

Reference ports

Umm Qasr (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