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

In 2024, an estimated $126.9 billion of South Korea’s trade passed through the Cape of Good Hope, 15.1% of its seaborne trade. That is $80.1 billion of exports and $46.8 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are Germany, Brazil and Turkey.

Summary

Estimated value
$126.9billion
Of its seaborne trade
15.1%
Exports
$80.1billion
Imports
$46.8billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

South Korea’s estimated trade through the Cape of Good Hope rose 678% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • South Korea 127

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$4.9 billion3%
1996$4.9 billion2.8%
1997$7.2 billion3.9%
1998$5.9 billion3.9%
1999$5.5 billion3.2%
2000$5.9 billion2.8%
2001$6.4 billion3.2%
2002$5.7 billion2.7%
2003$6.1 billion2.5%
2004$9 billion2.9%
2005$10.3 billion2.9%
2006$12.7 billion2.9%
2007$13.3 billion2.7%
2008$16.9 billion2.8%
2009$16.1 billion3.4%
2010$21.6 billion3.6%
2011$28.7 billion3.8%
2012$24.1 billion3.2%
2013$24.4 billion3.3%
2014$25.5 billion3.3%
2015$17.4 billion2.7%
2016$18.9 billion3.2%
2017$16 billion2.4%
2018$15.8 billion2.2%
2019$16.3 billion2.4%
2020$14.4 billion2.4%
2021$20.5 billion2.7%
2022$26.8 billion2.9%
2023$21.8 billion2.6%
2024$126.9 billion15.1%

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. South Korea–Germany$15.5 billion · 12.3%
  2. South Korea–Brazil$9.7 billion · 7.6%
  3. South Korea–Turkey$7.2 billion · 5.7%
  4. South Korea–France$7.1 billion · 5.6%
  5. South Korea–United Kingdom$6.7 billion · 5.3%
  6. South Korea–Russia$6.2 billion · 4.9%
  7. South Korea–Italy$5.4 billion · 4.2%
  8. South Korea–Liberia$5.3 billion · 4.1%
  9. South Korea–Poland$5.1 billion · 4%
  10. South Korea–Spain$4.2 billion · 3.3%

What crosses it

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

  1. Cars$20.1 billion · 15.9%
  2. Cargo and cruise ships$13.2 billion · 10.4%
  3. Refined petroleum$6.8 billion · 5.4%
  4. Auto parts$5.7 billion · 4.5%
  5. Crude petroleum$4.3 billion · 3.4%
  6. Industrial fatty acids and oils$2 billion · 1.6%
  7. Corn$1.9 billion · 1.5%
  8. New tires$1.7 billion · 1.4%
  9. Natural gas and LPG$1.7 billion · 1.4%
  10. Coated flat steel$1.6 billion · 1.2%

Reference ports

Busan (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.

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