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

In 2024, an estimated $48.8 billion of South Korea’s trade passed through the Strait of Dover, 5.8% of its seaborne trade. That is $28.1 billion of exports and $20.7 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are Germany, Poland and the Netherlands.

Summary

Estimated value
$48.8billion
Of its seaborne trade
5.8%
Exports
$28.1billion
Imports
$20.7billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

South Korea’s estimated trade through the Strait of Dover in 2024 was about the same as in 2019

Value in USD billions

  • South Korea 48.8

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$12.1 billion7.5%
1996$13 billion7.4%
1997$13.2 billion7.2%
1998$11.7 billion7.8%
1999$12.5 billion7.2%
2000$13.9 billion6.5%
2001$12.9 billion6.4%
2002$14.7 billion6.9%
2003$15.3 billion6.3%
2004$18.6 billion6%
2005$22.8 billion6.3%
2006$27.5 billion6.4%
2007$33.1 billion6.7%
2008$39 billion6.5%
2009$31.9 billion6.8%
2010$43.5 billion7.2%
2011$45.2 billion5.9%
2012$44.4 billion5.8%
2013$43.6 billion5.8%
2014$52.8 billion6.8%
2015$48.5 billion7.5%
2016$39.8 billion6.7%
2017$47 billion7%
2018$53.2 billion7.4%
2019$49.2 billion7.2%
2020$45.7 billion7.7%
2021$54.9 billion7.1%
2022$57.6 billion6.3%
2023$51.4 billion6.2%
2024$48.8 billion5.8%

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$18.3 billion · 37.5%
  2. South Korea–Poland$6 billion · 12.2%
  3. South Korea–Netherlands$4.7 billion · 9.7%
  4. South Korea–Russia$4.1 billion · 8.4%
  5. South Korea–Belgium$3.2 billion · 6.6%
  6. South Korea–Czechia$3 billion · 6.2%
  7. South Korea–Denmark$2.8 billion · 5.7%
  8. South Korea–Sweden$2.2 billion · 4.5%
  9. South Korea–Norway$1.5 billion · 3.1%
  10. South Korea–Finland$1.1 billion · 2.3%

What crosses it

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

  1. Cars$10.8 billion · 22.2%
  2. Cargo and cruise ships$3.7 billion · 7.7%
  3. Auto parts$2.5 billion · 5.1%
  4. Chromates, permanganates and other metal salts$1.3 billion · 2.6%
  5. New tires$950 million · 2%
  6. Coal$937 million · 1.9%
  7. Refined petroleum$857 million · 1.8%
  8. Batteries$739 million · 1.5%
  9. Polyethers, polyesters and epoxy resins$593 million · 1.2%
  10. Natural gas and LPG$555 million · 1.1%

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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