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

In 2024, an estimated $20.1 billion of Kuwait’s trade passed through the Cape of Good Hope, 22.7% of its seaborne trade. That is $13.4 billion of exports and $6.7 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are France, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Summary

Estimated value
$20.1billion
Of its seaborne trade
22.7%
Exports
$13.4billion
Imports
$6.7billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Kuwait’s estimated trade through the Cape of Good Hope rose 3,489% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Kuwait 20.1

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$370 million2.6%
1996$15 million0.1%
1997$28 million0.2%
1998$26 million0.2%
1999$37 million0.2%
2000$182 million0.8%
2001$193 million0.9%
2002$131 million0.6%
2003$197 million0.7%
2004$196 million0.5%
2005$285 million0.6%
2006$256 million0.4%
2007$441 million0.6%
2008$1 billion0.9%
2009$377 million0.6%
2010$588 million0.7%
2011$776 million0.7%
2012$1.4 billion1.1%
2013$1.5 billion1.2%
2014$1.7 billion1.4%
2015$874 million1.1%
2016$711 million1.1%
2017$720 million0.9%
2018$930 million0.9%
2019$560 million0.6%
2020$552 million0.9%
2021$659 million0.8%
2022$1.6 billion1.3%
2023$1.5 billion1.4%
2024$20.1 billion22.7%

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. Kuwait–France$3.4 billion · 16.9%
  2. Kuwait–United Kingdom$3.3 billion · 16.2%
  3. Kuwait–United States$2.2 billion · 11.2%
  4. Kuwait–Netherlands$1.8 billion · 8.8%
  5. Kuwait–Italy$1.1 billion · 5.7%
  6. Kuwait–Germany$1.1 billion · 5.3%
  7. Kuwait–Brazil$997 million · 5%
  8. Kuwait–Egypt$856 million · 4.3%
  9. Kuwait–Turkey$621 million · 3.1%
  10. Kuwait–Ireland$609 million · 3%

What crosses it

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

  1. Refined petroleum$12.6 billion · 62.8%
  2. Cars$1.1 billion · 5.4%
  3. Natural gas and LPG$593 million · 3%
  4. Crude petroleum$435 million · 2.2%
  5. Poultry meat$260 million · 1.3%
  6. Trucks$180 million · 0.9%
  7. Catalysts$142 million · 0.7%
  8. Seamless steel pipes$124 million · 0.62%
  9. Chocolate$120 million · 0.6%
  10. Powdered and condensed milk$107 million · 0.53%

Reference ports

Shuaiba (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