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How much of Egypt’s trade passes through the Strait of Gibraltar?

In 2024, an estimated $64.7 billion of Egypt’s trade passed through the Strait of Gibraltar, 49.3% of its seaborne trade. That is $17.9 billion of exports and $46.7 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, the United States and Brazil.

Summary

Estimated value
$64.7billion
Of its seaborne trade
49.3%
Exports
$17.9billion
Imports
$46.7billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Egypt’s estimated trade through the Strait of Gibraltar rose 109% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Egypt 64.7

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$8.9 billion45.9%
1996$8.6 billion42.6%
1997$10 billion44.9%
1998$9.3 billion41.4%
1999$9.8 billion43.1%
2000$8.7 billion39.8%
2001$8.2 billion40.2%
2002$8.2 billion38.4%
2003$9.2 billion40.5%
2004$11.2 billion37.4%
2005$13.6 billion35.2%
2006$16.3 billion33.5%
2007$19.6 billion33%
2008$29.3 billion32.8%
2009$23.5 billion31.5%
2010$27.7 billion31.3%
2011$32.1 billion31.6%
2012$29.6 billion28.7%
2013$26.6 billion28.5%
2014$29.8 billion28%
2015$25.8 billion28.1%
2016$25.8 billion29.1%
2017$26.5 billion28.1%
2018$31.8 billion28.2%
2019$30.9 billion28.6%
2020$28.4 billion29.1%
2021$36.9 billion29.1%
2022$39 billion27.7%
2023$33.3 billion27.7%
2024$64.7 billion49.3%

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. Egypt–China$10 billion · 15.5%
  2. Egypt–United States$9.2 billion · 14.2%
  3. Egypt–Brazil$4.9 billion · 7.6%
  4. Egypt–Germany$4.7 billion · 7.2%
  5. Egypt–Russia$3.9 billion · 6%
  6. Egypt–United Kingdom$3.4 billion · 5.2%
  7. Egypt–India$2.6 billion · 4%
  8. Egypt–United Arab Emirates$2.5 billion · 3.9%
  9. Egypt–Netherlands$2.2 billion · 3.4%
  10. Egypt–Belgium$1.4 billion · 2.2%

What crosses it

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

  1. Natural gas and LPG$3.4 billion · 5.3%
  2. Refined petroleum$2.5 billion · 3.8%
  3. Wheat$2 billion · 3%
  4. Cars$1.8 billion · 2.9%
  5. Ferrous scrap$1.4 billion · 2.2%
  6. Soybeans$1.4 billion · 2.2%
  7. Iron ore$1.2 billion · 1.9%
  8. Corn$1.2 billion · 1.9%
  9. Cables and wire$1.1 billion · 1.8%
  10. Cane and beet sugar$1 billion · 1.6%

Reference ports

Alexandria (80%) and Ain Sokhna (20%)

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