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How much of Ghana’s trade passes through the Strait of Dover?

In 2024, an estimated $3.8 billion of Ghana’s trade passed through the Strait of Dover, 13.6% of its seaborne trade. That is $1.5 billion of exports and $2.3 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

Summary

Estimated value
$3.8billion
Of its seaborne trade
13.6%
Exports
$1.5billion
Imports
$2.3billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Ghana’s estimated trade through the Strait of Dover rose 27% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Ghana 3.8

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$704 million24.6%
1996$1.1 billion27.5%
1997$1.2 billion25.1%
1998$1.2 billion27.6%
1999$1.1 billion25.7%
2000$1 billion24.9%
2001$1.1 billion23.4%
2002$1.1 billion25.3%
2003$1.3 billion25.1%
2004$1.1 billion21.5%
2005$1.7 billion21.5%
2006$1.8 billion21.7%
2007$2.2 billion19.5%
2008$2.4 billion19.4%
2009$2.2 billion22%
2010$2.4 billion20.1%
2011$3.9 billion18.9%
2012$3.9 billion18%
2013$3.7 billion17.8%
2014$3.1 billion13%
2015$2.9 billion13.9%
2016$2.9 billion17.1%
2017$3.2 billion15.1%
2018$3.6 billion16%
2019$3 billion11.6%
2020$2.8 billion12.7%
2021$4.6 billion15.6%
2022$4.8 billion15.3%
2023$5 billion17.8%
2024$3.8 billion13.6%

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. Ghana–Netherlands$1.9 billion · 49.9%
  2. Ghana–Belgium$671 million · 17.8%
  3. Ghana–Germany$512 million · 13.6%
  4. Ghana–Poland$233 million · 6.2%
  5. Ghana–Switzerland$119 million · 3.2%
  6. Ghana–Sweden$62 million · 1.6%
  7. Ghana–Finland$56 million · 1.5%
  8. Ghana–Estonia$46 million · 1.2%
  9. Ghana–Lithuania$45 million · 1.2%
  10. Ghana–France$45 million · 1.2%

What crosses it

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

  1. Refined petroleum$1.2 billion · 31.9%
  2. Cocoa beans$524 million · 13.9%
  3. Cocoa butter$237 million · 6.3%
  4. Cocoa paste$225 million · 6%
  5. Poultry meat$127 million · 3.4%
  6. Crude petroleum$90 million · 2.4%
  7. Other vegetable oils$87 million · 2.3%
  8. Cocoa powder$53 million · 1.4%
  9. Cane and beet sugar$43 million · 1.1%
  10. Trucks$38 million · 1%

Reference ports

Takoradi (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