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How much of the United Arab Emirates’ trade passes through the Strait of Gibraltar?

In 2024, an estimated $29.5 billion of the United Arab Emirates’ trade passed through the Strait of Gibraltar, 7.8% of its seaborne trade. That is $12.7 billion of exports and $16.8 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are Italy, France and Turkey.

Summary

Estimated value
$29.5billion
Of its seaborne trade
7.8%
Exports
$12.7billion
Imports
$16.8billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

The United Arab Emirates’ estimated trade through the Strait of Gibraltar fell 11% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • United Arab Emirates 29.5

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$5.5 billion15.8%
1996$6.1 billion15.5%
1997$6.3 billion14.4%
1998$6.5 billion16.8%
1999$6.3 billion15.2%
2000$6.5 billion12.2%
2001$7.7 billion14%
2002$8.2 billion14.4%
2003$9.7 billion13.4%
2004$12.4 billion13.2%
2005$14.5 billion12.2%
2006$18.7 billion12%
2007$22.3 billion12.3%
2008$27.8 billion10.9%
2009$20.1 billion12.4%
2010$20.1 billion8.5%
2011$27.2 billion9%
2012$31.5 billion9.9%
2013$26.5 billion8.9%
2014$29.1 billion9.5%
2015$27.7 billion11.7%
2016$27.1 billion12.6%
2017$32.8 billion12%
2018$34.2 billion11.2%
2019$33.2 billion10.9%
2020$28.2 billion11.5%
2021$33.5 billion9.9%
2022$43.9 billion9.3%
2023$51.8 billion12%
2024$29.5 billion7.8%

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. United Arab Emirates–Italy$4.6 billion · 15.5%
  2. United Arab Emirates–France$4.3 billion · 14.6%
  3. United Arab Emirates–Turkey$4.1 billion · 13.8%
  4. United Arab Emirates–Egypt$2.5 billion · 8.5%
  5. United Arab Emirates–Spain$1.9 billion · 6.4%
  6. United Arab Emirates–Israel$1.9 billion · 6.3%
  7. United Arab Emirates–United States$1.7 billion · 5.9%
  8. United Arab Emirates–Germany$1.1 billion · 3.9%
  9. United Arab Emirates–United Kingdom$795 million · 2.7%
  10. United Arab Emirates–Slovakia$630 million · 2.1%

What crosses it

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

  1. Refined petroleum$5.7 billion · 19.5%
  2. Unwrought aluminum$1.9 billion · 6.3%
  3. Cars$1.6 billion · 5.4%
  4. Crude petroleum$506 million · 1.7%
  5. Copper wire$440 million · 1.5%
  6. Makeup and skin care$365 million · 1.2%
  7. Furniture$327 million · 1.1%
  8. Polyethylene$323 million · 1.1%
  9. Cables and wire$323 million · 1.1%
  10. Auto parts$322 million · 1.1%

Reference ports

Jebel Ali (86%) and Khor Fakkan (14%)

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