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How much of El Salvador’s trade passes through the Panama Canal?

In 2024, an estimated $7.2 billion of El Salvador’s trade passed through the Panama Canal, 42% of its seaborne trade. That is $2.2 billion of exports and $5 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are the United States, Guatemala and Honduras.

Summary

Estimated value
$7.2billion
Of its seaborne trade
42%
Exports
$2.2billion
Imports
$5billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

El Salvador’s estimated trade through the Panama Canal rose 26% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • El Salvador 7.2

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$1.9 billion59.5%
1996$1.9 billion56.3%
1997$2.6 billion58.2%
1998$1.9 billion52.1%
1999$2 billion52%
2000$3.2 billion55.6%
2001$3.5 billion54.1%
2002$3.5 billion54.5%
2003$4 billion54.7%
2004$4.1 billion54.7%
2005$4.2 billion52.9%
2006$4.6 billion51.5%
2007$4.9 billion48.9%
2008$5.6 billion49.1%
2009$4.3 billion50.8%
2010$4.4 billion46.8%
2011$5.4 billion48%
2012$5.5 billion47.7%
2013$6.1 billion48.7%
2014$5.7 billion47.9%
2015$5.7 billion47.3%
2016$5.5 billion46.8%
2017$5.7 billion45%
2018$6 billion45%
2019$5.7 billion43.7%
2020$4.9 billion44.9%
2021$6.5 billion42.9%
2022$7.8 billion43.7%
2023$7.4 billion43.8%
2024$7.2 billion42%

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. El Salvador–United States$3.7 billion · 52.3%
  2. El Salvador–Guatemala$769 million · 10.7%
  3. El Salvador–Honduras$328 million · 4.6%
  4. El Salvador–Brazil$258 million · 3.6%
  5. El Salvador–Spain$232 million · 3.2%
  6. El Salvador–India$205 million · 2.9%
  7. El Salvador–Colombia$192 million · 2.7%
  8. El Salvador–Trinidad and Tobago$179 million · 2.5%
  9. El Salvador–Italy$133 million · 1.9%
  10. El Salvador–Germany$131 million · 1.8%

What crosses it

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

  1. Refined petroleum$1.1 billion · 14.8%
  2. Natural gas and LPG$409 million · 5.7%
  3. T-shirts$280 million · 3.9%
  4. Sweaters and pullovers$196 million · 2.7%
  5. Soft drinks$195 million · 2.7%
  6. Corn$135 million · 1.9%
  7. Other food preparations$116 million · 1.6%
  8. Trucks$113 million · 1.6%
  9. Coffee$105 million · 1.5%
  10. Cane and beet sugar$103 million · 1.4%

Reference ports

Acajutla (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.

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