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

In 2024, an estimated $2.9 billion of Tunisia’s trade passed through the Turkish Straits, 8.3% of its seaborne trade. That is $434 million of exports and $2.4 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are Turkey, Russia and Ukraine.

Summary

Estimated value
$2.9billion
Of its seaborne trade
8.3%
Exports
$434million
Imports
$2.4billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Tunisia’s estimated trade through the Turkish Straits rose 32% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Tunisia 2.9

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$274 million3%
1996$292 million3.1%
1997$252 million2.4%
1998$341 million3%
1999$363 million3.1%
2000$337 million2.7%
2001$382 million2.8%
2002$435 million3.2%
2003$517 million3.6%
2004$761 million4.4%
2005$842 million4.6%
2006$1.1 billion5.3%
2007$1.6 billion6.1%
2008$2.6 billion7.9%
2009$1.5 billion5.9%
2010$1.7 billion5.7%
2011$2.2 billion7.4%
2012$2.2 billion7.4%
2013$2.2 billion7.3%
2014$2.6 billion8.9%
2015$2.2 billion8.2%
2016$2 billion7.8%
2017$2.1 billion7.9%
2018$2.5 billion8.6%
2019$2.2 billion7.8%
2020$2.2 billion9.1%
2021$3.4 billion10.8%
2022$3.7 billion10%
2023$2.7 billion7.5%
2024$2.9 billion8.3%

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. Tunisia–Turkey$1.1 billion · 38.5%
  2. Tunisia–Russia$567 million · 19.8%
  3. Tunisia–Ukraine$392 million · 13.7%
  4. Tunisia–Azerbaijan$285 million · 9.9%
  5. Tunisia–Romania$261 million · 9.1%
  6. Tunisia–Bulgaria$257 million · 9%

What crosses it

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

  1. Refined petroleum$545 million · 19%
  2. Crude petroleum$392 million · 13.7%
  3. Wheat$313 million · 10.9%
  4. Corn$119 million · 4.2%
  5. Barley$99 million · 3.4%
  6. Heavy cotton fabric$72 million · 2.5%
  7. Auto parts$68 million · 2.4%
  8. Mixed fertilizers$50 million · 1.7%
  9. Cars$44 million · 1.5%
  10. Cables and wire$42 million · 1.5%

Reference ports

Tunis (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