globaltraffic.earth

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

In 2024, an estimated $16 billion of Guatemala’s trade passed through the Panama Canal, 43% of its seaborne trade. That is $3.5 billion of exports and $12.4 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, the United States and Costa Rica.

Summary

Estimated value
$16billion
Of its seaborne trade
43%
Exports
$3.5billion
Imports
$12.4billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Guatemala’s estimated trade through the Panama Canal rose 76% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Guatemala 16

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$1.5 billion29.2%
1996$1.4 billion27.5%
1997$1.7 billion29.2%
1998$2 billion31.1%
1999$2 billion31.5%
2000$2.2 billion31.8%
2001$2.3 billion32.2%
2002$2.6 billion32.8%
2003$2.8 billion33%
2004$3.2 billion33.2%
2005$5 billion37.5%
2006$4.1 billion35.7%
2007$5.9 billion36.9%
2008$6.2 billion35.9%
2009$5.3 billion36.1%
2010$6.1 billion36.1%
2011$7.2 billion36.2%
2012$7.5 billion36.2%
2013$7.5 billion35.4%
2014$8.3 billion36.6%
2015$8.6 billion38.5%
2016$8 billion37.4%
2017$8.5 billion36.1%
2018$8.8 billion36.7%
2019$9.1 billion36.9%
2020$8.7 billion37.4%
2021$12.7 billion40.1%
2022$15.4 billion40.5%
2023$14.8 billion41.9%
2024$16 billion43%

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. Guatemala–China$5.6 billion · 35%
  2. Guatemala–United States$3.8 billion · 23.7%
  3. Guatemala–Costa Rica$1.6 billion · 9.7%
  4. Guatemala–Japan$960 million · 6%
  5. Guatemala–El Salvador$769 million · 4.8%
  6. Guatemala–South Korea$523 million · 3.3%
  7. Guatemala–Chile$367 million · 2.3%
  8. Guatemala–Taiwan$348 million · 2.2%
  9. Guatemala–Canada$318 million · 2%
  10. Guatemala–Indonesia$294 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 · 7.1%
  2. Cars$641 million · 4%
  3. Trucks$517 million · 3.2%
  4. Bananas$399 million · 2.5%
  5. Cane and beet sugar$345 million · 2.2%
  6. Coffee$345 million · 2.2%
  7. Other food preparations$257 million · 1.6%
  8. Motorcycles$220 million · 1.4%
  9. Semi-finished steel$203 million · 1.3%
  10. New tires$177 million · 1.1%

Reference ports

Santo Tomás de Castilla (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