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

In 2024, an estimated $6.3 billion of Zambia’s trade passed through the Cape of Good Hope, 30.5% of its seaborne trade. That is $5.3 billion of exports and $1 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are Switzerland, the United States and Germany.

Summary

Estimated value
$6.3billion
Of its seaborne trade
30.5%
Exports
$5.3billion
Imports
$1billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Zambia’s estimated trade through the Cape of Good Hope rose 54% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Zambia 6.3

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$458 million25.5%
1996$476 million26.7%
1997$368 million18.8%
1998$427 million27.6%
1999$540 million37.1%
2000$323 million22.5%
2001$698 million34.4%
2002$632 million30%
2003$608 million27.7%
2004$731 million23%
2005$1.2 billion27.9%
2006$2.2 billion30.6%
2007$2.7 billion31.3%
2008$3.1 billion30.8%
2009$2.4 billion28.3%
2010$3.9 billion32.1%
2011$5.7 billion34.5%
2012$5.7 billion31.3%
2013$5.6 billion31.3%
2014$5.6 billion28.9%
2015$3.4 billion23.7%
2016$3.6 billion28.5%
2017$4.7 billion29.7%
2018$5.4 billion33.6%
2019$4.1 billion31.3%
2020$4.5 billion37.6%
2021$6 billion36.5%
2022$6.1 billion32.7%
2023$5.6 billion28.3%
2024$6.3 billion30.5%

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. Zambia–Switzerland$4.9 billion · 77.1%
  2. Zambia–United States$265 million · 4.2%
  3. Zambia–Germany$178 million · 2.8%
  4. Zambia–United Kingdom$112 million · 1.8%
  5. Zambia–Finland$99 million · 1.6%
  6. Zambia–Canada$92 million · 1.5%
  7. Zambia–Italy$75 million · 1.2%
  8. Zambia–Egypt$68 million · 1.1%
  9. Zambia–Turkey$52 million · 0.82%
  10. Zambia–Spain$51 million · 0.82%

What crosses it

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

  1. Unrefined copper$3.8 billion · 60%
  2. Refined copper$1 billion · 16.2%
  3. Nickel ore$198 million · 3.2%
  4. Raw tobacco$101 million · 1.6%
  5. Refined petroleum$77 million · 1.2%
  6. Sorting and crushing machines$71 million · 1.1%
  7. Trucks$61 million · 0.97%
  8. Parts for cranes and excavators$51 million · 0.81%
  9. Mixed fertilizers$45 million · 0.71%
  10. Ferroalloys$44 million · 0.71%

Reference ports

Durban (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