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

In 2024, an estimated $7.9 billion of Iraq’s trade passed through the Strait of Dover, 5.5% of its seaborne trade. That is $6 billion of exports and $1.9 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are the Netherlands, Germany and Czechia.

Summary

Estimated value
$7.9billion
Of its seaborne trade
5.5%
Exports
$6billion
Imports
$1.9billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Iraq’s estimated trade through the Strait of Dover rose 77% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Iraq 7.9

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$20 million9.4%
1996$20 million11.2%
1997$233 million7.1%
1998$676 million11.8%
1999$1.2 billion10.7%
2000$875 million4.9%
2001$1.2 billion8.8%
2002$1.1 billion9.2%
2003$576 million5.3%
2004$777 million3.5%
2005$808 million3.2%
2006$878 million2.6%
2007$1.4 billion3.3%
2008$2 billion2.7%
2009$2.3 billion4.6%
2010$2.4 billion3.6%
2011$4.1 billion4.4%
2012$4.8 billion4%
2013$3.3 billion2.8%
2014$4.7 billion4%
2015$4.1 billion5.2%
2016$4 billion5.7%
2017$5.9 billion6.3%
2018$5.7 billion4.5%
2019$4.5 billion3.6%
2020$2.5 billion2.8%
2021$3.2 billion2.6%
2022$8 billion4.4%
2023$8.8 billion5.5%
2024$7.9 billion5.5%

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. Iraq–Netherlands$4.5 billion · 57%
  2. Iraq–Germany$2.6 billion · 33.1%
  3. Iraq–Czechia$229 million · 2.9%
  4. Iraq–Poland$223 million · 2.8%
  5. Iraq–Belgium$151 million · 1.9%
  6. Iraq–Denmark$55 million · 0.7%
  7. Iraq–Finland$47 million · 0.6%
  8. Iraq–Sweden$33 million · 0.42%
  9. Iraq–Switzerland$30 million · 0.38%
  10. Iraq–United Kingdom$19 million · 0.24%

What crosses it

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

  1. Crude petroleum$6 billion · 75.7%
  2. Cars$296 million · 3.8%
  3. Refined petroleum$96 million · 1.2%
  4. Eggs in shell$90 million · 1.1%
  5. Medicines in measured doses or retail packs$77 million · 0.98%
  6. Other food preparations$65 million · 0.82%
  7. Pet and animal feed$64 million · 0.8%
  8. Malt extract and food mixes$58 million · 0.73%
  9. Harvesters and farm machinery$55 million · 0.69%
  10. Special-purpose vehicles$52 million · 0.66%

Reference ports

Umm Qasr (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