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How much of China’s trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz?

In 2024, an estimated $242.3 billion of China’s trade passed through the Strait of Hormuz, 7.2% of its seaborne trade. That is $105 billion of exports and $137.4 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Summary

Estimated value
$242.3billion
Of its seaborne trade
7.2%
Exports
$105billion
Imports
$137.4billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

China’s estimated trade through the Strait of Hormuz rose 49% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • China 242

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$2.5 billion1.1%
1996$2.7 billion1.1%
1997$3.4 billion1.3%
1998$3.6 billion1.4%
1999$4.2 billion1.4%
2000$8 billion2.3%
2001$9.2 billion2.5%
2002$10.7 billion2.4%
2003$14.5 billion2.6%
2004$19.8 billion2.7%
2005$28.1 billion3.2%
2006$39.8 billion3.8%
2007$53 billion4%
2008$80 billion5.2%
2009$62.2 billion4.7%
2010$90.2 billion5.1%
2011$131.3 billion6.2%
2012$139.5 billion6.5%
2013$147.3 billion6.7%
2014$164.9 billion7.2%
2015$125 billion6%
2016$107.3 billion5.4%
2017$132.2 billion5.9%
2018$161.6 billion6.5%
2019$162.7 billion6.6%
2020$141.3 billion5.9%
2021$191.9 billion6.2%
2022$270.7 billion7.9%
2023$231.1 billion7.1%
2024$242.3 billion7.2%

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. China–United Arab Emirates$75.9 billion · 31.3%
  2. China–Saudi Arabia$57.6 billion · 23.8%
  3. China–Iraq$53.9 billion · 22.2%
  4. China–Qatar$23.6 billion · 9.7%
  5. China–Kuwait$16.9 billion · 7%
  6. China–Iran$12.6 billion · 5.2%
  7. China–Bahrain$2 billion · 0.81%

What crosses it

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

  1. Crude petroleum$98.6 billion · 40.7%
  2. Natural gas and LPG$17.6 billion · 7.3%
  3. Cars$8.2 billion · 3.4%
  4. Polyethylene$5.3 billion · 2.2%
  5. Refined petroleum$5 billion · 2.1%
  6. Alcohols$3.1 billion · 1.3%
  7. Air conditioners$2.9 billion · 1.2%
  8. Hot-rolled flat steel$2.9 billion · 1.2%
  9. Auto parts$2.8 billion · 1.2%
  10. New tires$2 billion · 0.82%

Reference ports

Shanghai (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