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How much of Libya’s trade passes through the Turkish Straits?

In 2024, an estimated $3.4 billion of Libya’s trade passed through the Turkish Straits, 7.2% of its seaborne trade. That is $1.2 billion of exports and $2.3 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria.

Summary

Estimated value
$3.4billion
Of its seaborne trade
7.2%
Exports
$1.2billion
Imports
$2.3billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Libya’s estimated trade through the Turkish Straits rose 55% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Libya 3.4

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$479 million3.9%
1996$564 million3.9%
1997$550 million4%
1998$337 million3.2%
1999$495 million4.4%
2000$682 million4.3%
2001$796 million5.2%
2002$178 million1.3%
2003$282 million1.6%
2004$342 million1.4%
2005$521 million1.5%
2006$702 million1.6%
2007$866 million2%
2008$1.2 billion2.1%
2009$1.9 billion4.2%
2010$2.6 billion4.7%
2011$859 million3.6%
2012$2.6 billion3.4%
2013$3.5 billion5.7%
2014$2.5 billion7.5%
2015$1.8 billion9.3%
2016$1.4 billion5.2%
2017$1.2 billion4.5%
2018$1.8 billion4.4%
2019$2.2 billion4.9%
2020$2.1 billion11.9%
2021$3.4 billion7.3%
2022$3.1 billion5.5%
2023$3.7 billion7%
2024$3.4 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. Libya–Turkey$2.2 billion · 65.9%
  2. Libya–Romania$428 million · 12.6%
  3. Libya–Bulgaria$415 million · 12.2%
  4. Libya–Ukraine$300 million · 8.8%
  5. Libya–Armenia$10 million · 0.3%
  6. Libya–Georgia$6 million · 0.18%

What crosses it

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

  1. Crude petroleum$678 million · 19.9%
  2. Refined petroleum$245 million · 7.2%
  3. Corn$144 million · 4.2%
  4. Sunflower, safflower and cottonseed oil$88 million · 2.6%
  5. Copper scrap$87 million · 2.6%
  6. Furniture$77 million · 2.3%
  7. Barley$67 million · 2%
  8. Ferrous scrap$66 million · 2%
  9. Bread, biscuits and pastries$53 million · 1.6%
  10. Natural gas and LPG$51 million · 1.5%

Reference ports

Tripoli (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.

The Bosporus and the Dardanelles are counted together: they are the two gates between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

All maritime chokepoints