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

In 2024, an estimated $144.3 billion of Iraq’s trade passed through the Strait of Hormuz, 99.6% of its seaborne trade. That is $108.9 billion of exports and $35.3 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, India and South Korea.

Summary

Estimated value
$144.3billion
Of its seaborne trade
99.6%
Exports
$108.9billion
Imports
$35.3billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Iraq’s estimated trade through the Strait of Hormuz rose 29% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Iraq 144

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$214 million100%
1996$182 million100%
1997$3.3 billion100%
1998$5.7 billion99.9%
1999$11.6 billion99.7%
2000$17.7 billion99.7%
2001$14 billion99.5%
2002$12.3 billion99.6%
2003$10.6 billion98.6%
2004$22 billion98.9%
2005$22.7 billion91.1%
2006$33.3 billion97.9%
2007$41.1 billion94.3%
2008$69.9 billion96.5%
2009$49.7 billion99.6%
2010$63.5 billion97.4%
2011$93.1 billion98.3%
2012$112.8 billion94.9%
2013$113.2 billion95.6%
2014$105.8 billion90.9%
2015$73.7 billion93.7%
2016$66.3 billion94.5%
2017$87.3 billion93.4%
2018$117.5 billion93.3%
2019$112 billion90.9%
2020$79.2 billion88%
2021$107.8 billion88.3%
2022$161.5 billion89.5%
2023$143.8 billion89.8%
2024$144.3 billion99.6%

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–China$53.9 billion · 37.3%
  2. Iraq–India$33 billion · 22.9%
  3. Iraq–South Korea$10.1 billion · 7%
  4. Iraq–United States$8.6 billion · 6%
  5. Iraq–Greece$5.5 billion · 3.8%
  6. Iraq–Turkey$5.3 billion · 3.6%
  7. Iraq–Netherlands$4.5 billion · 3.1%
  8. Iraq–Italy$3.4 billion · 2.4%
  9. Iraq–Germany$2.6 billion · 1.8%
  10. Iraq–France$2.4 billion · 1.7%

What crosses it

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

  1. Crude petroleum$97.9 billion · 67.8%
  2. Refined petroleum$9.5 billion · 6.6%
  3. Cars$2.1 billion · 1.5%
  4. Rice$1.6 billion · 1.1%
  5. Air conditioners$1.1 billion · 0.77%
  6. Petroleum coke and bitumen$1.1 billion · 0.76%
  7. Cane and beet sugar$730 million · 0.51%
  8. New tires$613 million · 0.43%
  9. Auto parts$534 million · 0.37%
  10. Live cattle$519 million · 0.36%

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