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

In 2024, an estimated $20.9 billion of Iraq’s trade passed through the Strait of Gibraltar, 14.4% of its seaborne trade. That is $14.5 billion of exports and $6.3 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are Greece, Turkey and Italy.

Summary

Estimated value
$20.9billion
Of its seaborne trade
14.4%
Exports
$14.5billion
Imports
$6.3billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Iraq’s estimated trade through the Strait of Gibraltar rose 81% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Iraq 20.9

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$26 million12.2%
1996$41 million22.6%
1997$798 million24.4%
1998$2.3 billion40.1%
1999$5.4 billion46.7%
2000$6.4 billion36.2%
2001$6.5 billion45.9%
2002$4.6 billion36.8%
2003$5.3 billion48.7%
2004$9.3 billion41.8%
2005$9.9 billion39.9%
2006$12.5 billion36.8%
2007$12.6 billion29%
2008$23.8 billion32.8%
2009$12.9 billion25.9%
2010$15.5 billion23.7%
2011$22.1 billion23.4%
2012$25.9 billion21.8%
2013$19.3 billion16.3%
2014$19.6 billion16.8%
2015$9.4 billion12%
2016$10 billion14.3%
2017$15.9 billion17%
2018$16.5 billion13.1%
2019$11.5 billion9.4%
2020$5.9 billion6.6%
2021$6.9 billion5.6%
2022$16.9 billion9.4%
2023$17.1 billion10.7%
2024$20.9 billion14.4%

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–Greece$4.7 billion · 22.3%
  2. Iraq–Turkey$4.5 billion · 21.4%
  3. Iraq–Italy$2.9 billion · 14%
  4. Iraq–France$2.1 billion · 9.9%
  5. Iraq–Spain$1.2 billion · 5.7%
  6. Iraq–United States$998 million · 4.8%
  7. Iraq–Bulgaria$821 million · 3.9%
  8. Iraq–Egypt$739 million · 3.5%
  9. Iraq–Netherlands$676 million · 3.2%
  10. Iraq–Serbia$531 million · 2.5%

What crosses it

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

  1. Crude petroleum$11.3 billion · 54.3%
  2. Refined petroleum$2.6 billion · 12.3%
  3. Petroleum coke and bitumen$420 million · 2%
  4. Wheat flour$383 million · 1.8%
  5. Dried legumes (beans, lentils, peas)$318 million · 1.5%
  6. Sunflower, safflower and cottonseed oil$288 million · 1.4%
  7. Wheat$203 million · 0.97%
  8. Citrus fruit$196 million · 0.94%
  9. Cigarettes and cigars$175 million · 0.84%
  10. Cars$155 million · 0.74%

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