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

In 2024, an estimated $9.3 billion of South Africa’s trade passed through the Strait of Gibraltar, 6% of its seaborne trade. That is $4.1 billion of exports and $5.2 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are Italy, Spain and Turkey.

Summary

Estimated value
$9.3billion
Of its seaborne trade
6%
Exports
$4.1billion
Imports
$5.2billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

South Africa’s estimated trade through the Strait of Gibraltar rose 209% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • South Africa 9.3

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$1.2 billion2.8%
1996$1.3 billion3.1%
1997$1.2 billion2.9%
1998$1.4 billion3.5%
1999$1.3 billion3.1%
2000$1.2 billion2.9%
2001$1.3 billion2.9%
2002$1.4 billion3.1%
2003$1.8 billion3.3%
2004$2.4 billion3.4%
2005$2.7 billion3.4%
2006$3.2 billion3.3%
2007$3.5 billion3.1%
2008$3.8 billion2.9%
2009$2.3 billion2.4%
2010$2.7 billion2.3%
2011$3.3 billion2.3%
2012$3 billion2.1%
2013$3.4 billion2.4%
2014$3.1 billion2.2%
2015$2.9 billion2.4%
2016$2.5 billion2.3%
2017$3.1 billion2.4%
2018$3.2 billion2.3%
2019$3 billion2.3%
2020$2.5 billion2.4%
2021$3.3 billion2.4%
2022$3.5 billion2.1%
2023$3.8 billion2.4%
2024$9.3 billion6%

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 Africa–Italy$2.4 billion · 26.2%
  2. South Africa–Spain$2 billion · 21%
  3. South Africa–Turkey$1.2 billion · 12.8%
  4. South Africa–France$1 billion · 11.2%
  5. South Africa–Austria$726 million · 7.8%
  6. South Africa–Greece$266 million · 2.9%
  7. South Africa–Slovakia$250 million · 2.7%
  8. South Africa–Romania$205 million · 2.2%
  9. South Africa–Hungary$195 million · 2.1%
  10. South Africa–Israel$186 million · 2%

What crosses it

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

  1. Cars$1.1 billion · 11.5%
  2. Trucks$649 million · 7%
  3. Refined petroleum$429 million · 4.6%
  4. Citrus fruit$253 million · 2.7%
  5. Auto parts$221 million · 2.4%
  6. Unwrought aluminum$213 million · 2.3%
  7. Iron ore$197 million · 2.1%
  8. Ferroalloys$179 million · 1.9%
  9. Coal$171 million · 1.8%
  10. Crude petroleum$154 million · 1.7%

Reference ports

Durban (80%) and Cape Town (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