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

In 2024, an estimated $62.7 billion of South Korea’s trade passed through the Strait of Gibraltar, 7.5% of its seaborne trade. That is $43.4 billion of exports and $19.3 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are Turkey, France and Italy.

Summary

Estimated value
$62.7billion
Of its seaborne trade
7.5%
Exports
$43.4billion
Imports
$19.3billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

South Korea’s estimated trade through the Strait of Gibraltar rose 8% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • South Korea 62.7

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$15.7 billion9.6%
1996$16.6 billion9.4%
1997$17 billion9.3%
1998$15.2 billion10.1%
1999$16.6 billion9.6%
2000$18.9 billion8.8%
2001$17.3 billion8.6%
2002$19.5 billion9.2%
2003$20.1 billion8.3%
2004$24.9 billion8%
2005$29.6 billion8.2%
2006$34.2 billion8%
2007$41.2 billion8.3%
2008$46.9 billion7.7%
2009$37.2 billion7.9%
2010$50.3 billion8.3%
2011$53.4 billion7%
2012$53.5 billion7%
2013$52.4 billion7%
2014$64.6 billion8.3%
2015$60.5 billion9.4%
2016$49.2 billion8.3%
2017$58.5 billion8.7%
2018$64.5 billion9%
2019$58 billion8.5%
2020$52.4 billion8.8%
2021$63.6 billion8.3%
2022$69.1 billion7.6%
2023$62.1 billion7.5%
2024$62.7 billion7.5%

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. South Korea–Turkey$7.2 billion · 11.5%
  2. South Korea–France$7.1 billion · 11.2%
  3. South Korea–Italy$5.4 billion · 8.6%
  4. South Korea–Spain$4.2 billion · 6.7%
  5. South Korea–Slovakia$3.6 billion · 5.8%
  6. South Korea–Hungary$3.5 billion · 5.6%
  7. South Korea–Russia$3.3 billion · 5.3%
  8. South Korea–Algeria$3.3 billion · 5.3%
  9. South Korea–Germany$2.7 billion · 4.4%
  10. South Korea–Kazakhstan$2.4 billion · 3.9%

What crosses it

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

  1. Cars$9.8 billion · 15.7%
  2. Cargo and cruise ships$4.9 billion · 7.8%
  3. Refined petroleum$4.2 billion · 6.7%
  4. Auto parts$3.3 billion · 5.2%
  5. Crude petroleum$1.9 billion · 3%
  6. Industrial fatty acids and oils$1.7 billion · 2.7%
  7. Polycarboxylic acids$1.1 billion · 1.7%
  8. Hot-rolled flat steel$976 million · 1.6%
  9. New tires$882 million · 1.4%
  10. Coated flat steel$866 million · 1.4%

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.

All maritime chokepoints