How dependent is Iraq on Saudi Arabia?

A product has a dominant supplier when a single country sells more than 50% of what is bought of it; we flag it separately above 75%.

• Saudi Arabia sells 2.4% of what the world exports of pasta; next come Italy (28.2%), South Korea (9%) and China (7.6%). The rest of the world exported 98.7 times what Iraq buys from Saudi Arabia.
• Saudi Arabia sells 9.1% of what the world exports of uninsulated copper cable; next come Turkey (19.4%), Germany (14.4%) and United States (14.3%). The rest of the world exported 18.3 times what Iraq buys from Saudi Arabia.
• Saudi Arabia sells 2.1% of what the world exports of aluminum sheet; next come China (26%), Germany (12.9%) and United States (7.3%). The rest of the world exported 291.9 times what Iraq buys from Saudi Arabia.
• Saudi Arabia sells 0.89% of what the world exports of steel bars; next come Turkey (11.5%), China (10.8%) and Malaysia (10.3%). The rest of the world exported 207.2 times what Iraq buys from Saudi Arabia.
• Saudi Arabia sells 0.35% of what the world exports of gold; next come Switzerland (19.2%), United Arab Emirates (10.6%) and Hong Kong (6.4%). The rest of the world exported 6,559.4 times what Iraq buys from Saudi Arabia.
• Saudi Arabia sells 12.9% of what the world exports of polyethylene; next come United States (19.4%), South Korea (6.7%) and Canada (5.4%). The rest of the world exported 3,092.2 times what Iraq buys from Saudi Arabia.
• Saudi Arabia sells 11% of what the world exports of polypropylene; next come South Korea (10.2%), United States (9.2%) and Belgium (7.3%). The rest of the world exported 1,919.6 times what Iraq buys from Saudi Arabia.
• Saudi Arabia sells 0.94% of what the world exports of steel wire rod; next come China (17.5%), Germany (10%) and Italy (5.5%). The rest of the world exported 913.6 times what Iraq buys from Saudi Arabia.
• Saudi Arabia sells 2.7% of what the world exports of synthetic monofilament and strip; next come Germany (18.1%), China (16.2%) and United States (11.2%). The rest of the world exported 519.8 times what Iraq buys from Saudi Arabia.
• Saudi Arabia sells 1.6% of what the world exports of slag and ash with metals; next come United States (12.3%), Germany (7.8%) and Australia (7%). The rest of the world exported 4,667.5 times what Iraq buys from Saudi Arabia.

Exports from the rest of the world already have buyers; the figure shows scale, not availability.

Iraq is Saudi Arabia’s 30th-largest customer, with 0.56% of its exports.

• Trade between Iraq and Saudi Arabia
• Who does Iraq rely on?
• Who does Saudi Arabia rely on?
• Dependence of Iraq on China
• Dependence of Iraq on Turkey
• Dependence of Iraq on India
• Dependence of Iraq on Brazil
• Trade profile of Iraq
• Trade profile of Saudi Arabia
• All countries

Sources and licenses

• CEPII BACI · Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
• Natural Earth · Public domain

Methodology

The data come from CEPII BACI (Etalab 2.0 licence), which reconciles what the exporting and the importing country report, in current USD, FOB. Data up to 2024.

Dependence is the share of a country’s imports (or exports) that each partner accounts for. It does not measure whether a product has a substitute or how much it would cost to change supplier.

The concentration index (HHI) adds up the square of each partner’s share, in percent: it runs from 0 to 10,000. Its equivalent is 10,000 ÷ HHI, the number of partners of the same size that would give that value.

Products are HS4 headings of the 1992 nomenclature (some combine different goods), with a floor of $1 million per product and country.

The EU is the 27 current members in every year; the United Kingdom is outside the EU throughout the series.

Re-exports: countries that act as redistribution hubs carry their notice and the figures are not corrected.