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

In 2024, an estimated $83.3 billion of Kuwait’s trade passed through the Strait of Hormuz, 94.3% of its seaborne trade. That is $62.6 billion of exports and $20.7 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, South Korea and India.

Summary

Estimated value
$83.3billion
Of its seaborne trade
94.3%
Exports
$62.6billion
Imports
$20.7billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Kuwait’s estimated trade through the Strait of Hormuz in 2024 was about the same as in 2019

Value in USD billions

  • Kuwait 83.3

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$14.2 billion99.1%
1996$16.8 billion99.2%
1997$16.4 billion99.8%
1998$13.8 billion98.4%
1999$15.9 billion99.5%
2000$23.4 billion97.6%
2001$20.8 billion97%
2002$21.2 billion96.4%
2003$26.9 billion96.5%
2004$35.2 billion96.8%
2005$46.6 billion96.6%
2006$63.5 billion96.8%
2007$75.4 billion96.9%
2008$106.2 billion97.7%
2009$62.7 billion98%
2010$84.3 billion97.2%
2011$114.1 billion97.3%
2012$128.2 billion97.1%
2013$127.1 billion96.4%
2014$113.6 billion96.2%
2015$74.8 billion95.1%
2016$62.5 billion93.3%
2017$74.5 billion93.2%
2018$93.9 billion94.1%
2019$82.7 billion93%
2020$58.2 billion93.6%
2021$81.3 billion92.7%
2022$118.3 billion94.8%
2023$104.7 billion93%
2024$83.3 billion94.3%

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. Kuwait–China$16.9 billion · 20.3%
  2. Kuwait–South Korea$9.5 billion · 11.4%
  3. Kuwait–India$9.4 billion · 11.3%
  4. Kuwait–Japan$9.1 billion · 10.9%
  5. Kuwait–France$4 billion · 4.8%
  6. Kuwait–United Kingdom$3.8 billion · 4.6%
  7. Kuwait–Taiwan$3.5 billion · 4.2%
  8. Kuwait–United States$3.4 billion · 4.1%
  9. Kuwait–Pakistan$2.3 billion · 2.8%
  10. Kuwait–Netherlands$2.1 billion · 2.5%

What crosses it

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

  1. Crude petroleum$28.2 billion · 33.8%
  2. Refined petroleum$25.5 billion · 30.6%
  3. Natural gas and LPG$4.4 billion · 5.3%
  4. Cars$4.3 billion · 5.2%
  5. Cyclic hydrocarbons$1.5 billion · 1.8%
  6. Hydrocarbon derivatives$802 million · 0.96%
  7. Polyethylene$798 million · 0.96%
  8. Alcohols$743 million · 0.89%
  9. Trucks$644 million · 0.77%
  10. Seamless steel pipes$491 million · 0.59%

Reference ports

Shuaiba (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