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How much of Egypt’s trade passes through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait?

In 2024, an estimated $12.5 billion of Egypt’s trade passed through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, 9.6% of its seaborne trade. That is $2.4 billion of exports and $10.2 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, India and the United Arab Emirates.

Summary

Estimated value
$12.5billion
Of its seaborne trade
9.6%
Exports
$2.4billion
Imports
$10.2billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Egypt’s estimated trade through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait fell 65% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Egypt 12.5

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$3.8 billion19.7%
1996$4 billion19.5%
1997$4.8 billion21.7%
1998$5.2 billion23.1%
1999$5.6 billion24.8%
2000$5.6 billion25.4%
2001$5.2 billion25.5%
2002$5.8 billion27.2%
2003$5.4 billion23.7%
2004$6.9 billion23%
2005$9.7 billion25.1%
2006$13 billion26.8%
2007$17.3 billion29.1%
2008$27 billion30.2%
2009$21.6 billion29%
2010$28.2 billion31.8%
2011$33 billion32.5%
2012$35 billion33.9%
2013$32.2 billion34.4%
2014$37.3 billion35.1%
2015$33.7 billion36.8%
2016$30.5 billion34.5%
2017$32.7 billion34.7%
2018$39.9 billion35.4%
2019$35.9 billion33.2%
2020$34.5 billion35.5%
2021$44 billion34.8%
2022$47.4 billion33.6%
2023$40.7 billion33.9%
2024$12.5 billion9.6%

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. Egypt–China$4.7 billion · 37.5%
  2. Egypt–India$1.2 billion · 9.8%
  3. Egypt–United Arab Emirates$1.2 billion · 9.4%
  4. Egypt–Indonesia$580 million · 4.6%
  5. Egypt–Russia$561 million · 4.5%
  6. Egypt–South Korea$461 million · 3.7%
  7. Egypt–Kuwait$403 million · 3.2%
  8. Egypt–Iraq$348 million · 2.8%
  9. Egypt–Malaysia$303 million · 2.4%
  10. Egypt–South Africa$287 million · 2.3%

What crosses it

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

  1. Refined petroleum$746 million · 6%
  2. Cars$498 million · 4%
  3. Palm oil$389 million · 3.1%
  4. Wheat$283 million · 2.3%
  5. Synthetic filament yarn$247 million · 2%
  6. Frozen beef$207 million · 1.7%
  7. Copper wire$197 million · 1.6%
  8. Semi-finished steel$185 million · 1.5%
  9. Hot-rolled flat steel$179 million · 1.4%
  10. Iron ore$179 million · 1.4%

Reference ports

Alexandria (80%) and Ain Sokhna (20%)

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