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

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. Turkey–China$34.1 billion · 36.8%
2. Turkey–Russia$7.7 billion · 8.3%
3. Turkey–South Korea$7.2 billion · 7.8%
4. Turkey–India$6.7 billion · 7.2%
5. Turkey–Iraq$4.5 billion · 4.8%
6. Turkey–United Arab Emirates$4.1 billion · 4.4%
7. Turkey–Malaysia$3.4 billion · 3.7%
8. Turkey–Japan$3.1 billion · 3.4%
9. Turkey–Indonesia$2.2 billion · 2.4%
10. Turkey–Vietnam$1.8 billion · 2%

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

1. Refined petroleum$7.2 billion · 7.8%
2. Cars$2.8 billion · 3%
3. Auto parts$2.1 billion · 2.3%
4. Semi-finished steel$2.1 billion · 2.3%
5. Unwrought aluminum$2 billion · 2.1%
6. Hot-rolled flat steel$1.6 billion · 1.7%
7. Polycarboxylic acids$1.4 billion · 1.5%
8. Coal$1.3 billion · 1.4%
9. Stainless steel sheet$981 million · 1.1%
10. Synthetic filament yarn$886 million · 0.96%

Istanbul (64%), Samsun (6%) and Mersin (29%)

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

• See Cape of Good Hope
• Turkey trade

Other chokepoints it uses

• Turkish Straits (Bosporus and Dardanelles) · 63%
• Strait of Gibraltar · 62%
• Strait of Dover · 24%
• Strait of Malacca and Singapore · 15%
• Øresund · 7%
• Suez Canal · 6%

Sources and licenses

• CEPII BACI · Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
• World Bank, Global Shipping Traffic Density · CC BY 4.0 (route network derived by this site)
• World Port Index (NGA) · Public domain (US Government work)
• Natural Earth · Public domain
• Kummu et al., gridded GDP · CC BY 4.0 (split between ports done by this site)

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.