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

In 2024, an estimated $8.7 billion of the Republic of the Congo’s trade passed through the Cape of Good Hope, 69.6% of its seaborne trade. That is $6.6 billion of exports and $2.1 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, India and Thailand.

Summary

Estimated value
$8.7billion
Of its seaborne trade
69.6%
Exports
$6.6billion
Imports
$2.1billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

The Republic of the Congo’s estimated trade through the Cape of Good Hope fell 10% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Republic of the Congo 8.7

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$349 million16.5%
1996$139 million6.7%
1997$795 million30.1%
1998$568 million30%
1999$566 million33.1%
2000$2.2 billion61.2%
2001$1.8 billion54.1%
2002$1.5 billion51%
2003$2 billion57.1%
2004$3 billion59.5%
2005$4.1 billion54.5%
2006$5.2 billion47.6%
2007$5.1 billion41.6%
2008$6.6 billion41.4%
2009$4.3 billion35.9%
2010$6.5 billion43%
2011$7.6 billion43.5%
2012$4.6 billion39.9%
2013$9.6 billion58.9%
2014$9.1 billion46.2%
2015$10.1 billion52.1%
2016$9.1 billion48.1%
2017$6.4 billion54.4%
2018$10.4 billion69%
2019$9.7 billion73.8%
2020$6.3 billion68.1%
2021$9.8 billion76.3%
2022$11.4 billion65.9%
2023$10.5 billion65.3%
2024$8.7 billion69.6%

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. Republic of the Congo–China$5.8 billion · 66.1%
  2. Republic of the Congo–India$753 million · 8.6%
  3. Republic of the Congo–Thailand$592 million · 6.8%
  4. Republic of the Congo–Singapore$492 million · 5.6%
  5. Republic of the Congo–Malaysia$427 million · 4.9%
  6. Republic of the Congo–Saudi Arabia$199 million · 2.3%
  7. Republic of the Congo–Indonesia$132 million · 1.5%
  8. Republic of the Congo–South Africa$71 million · 0.81%
  9. Republic of the Congo–Kuwait$64 million · 0.73%
  10. Republic of the Congo–Mauritius$53 million · 0.61%

What crosses it

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

  1. Crude petroleum$4.8 billion · 54.8%
  2. Refined copper$1 billion · 11.5%
  3. Refined petroleum$325 million · 3.7%
  4. Dredgers and floating cranes$192 million · 2.2%
  5. Tin ore$146 million · 1.7%
  6. Logs$119 million · 1.4%
  7. Palm oil$107 million · 1.2%
  8. Rice$75 million · 0.85%
  9. Women's suits and dresses$53 million · 0.61%
  10. Seamless steel pipes$45 million · 0.52%

Reference ports

Pointe-Noire (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.

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