globaltraffic.earth

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

In 2024, an estimated $9.4 billion of Venezuela’s trade passed through the Panama Canal, 38.5% of its seaborne trade. That is $3.3 billion of exports and $6.1 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, the United States and Peru.

Summary

Estimated value
$9.4billion
Of its seaborne trade
38.5%
Exports
$3.3billion
Imports
$6.1billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Venezuela’s estimated trade through the Panama Canal rose 25% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Venezuela 9.4

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$6.5 billion24.2%
1996$6.9 billion22.5%
1997$8.2 billion23.7%
1998$6.9 billion22.7%
1999$6.9 billion22.8%
2000$9.3 billion22.3%
2001$9.1 billion23.4%
2002$8 billion22.4%
2003$7.6 billion20.7%
2004$12.5 billion26.2%
2005$19.1 billion28.3%
2006$23.1 billion28.2%
2007$24.5 billion30.1%
2008$37.2 billion29.5%
2009$24.3 billion32.3%
2010$30.3 billion34.1%
2011$48.2 billion39.8%
2012$63.3 billion44.5%
2013$61.2 billion46.2%
2014$28 billion30.1%
2015$18.5 billion33.7%
2016$12.7 billion33.4%
2017$13.6 billion33.6%
2018$13.7 billion30.7%
2019$7.5 billion32.8%
2020$2.6 billion23.5%
2021$3.8 billion38.6%
2022$4.8 billion41.4%
2023$6 billion39.9%
2024$9.4 billion38.5%

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. Venezuela–China$6.3 billion · 66.7%
  2. Venezuela–United States$2.5 billion · 26.7%
  3. Venezuela–Peru$127 million · 1.3%
  4. Venezuela–Chile$117 million · 1.2%
  5. Venezuela–Ecuador$100 million · 1.1%
  6. Venezuela–Canada$64 million · 0.68%
  7. Venezuela–Japan$58 million · 0.61%
  8. Venezuela–South Korea$44 million · 0.47%
  9. Venezuela–Colombia$28 million · 0.3%
  10. Venezuela–Taiwan$24 million · 0.25%

What crosses it

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

  1. Crude petroleum$2.2 billion · 23.6%
  2. Refined petroleum$682 million · 7.2%
  3. Motorcycles$357 million · 3.8%
  4. Iron ore$276 million · 2.9%
  5. Air conditioners$217 million · 2.3%
  6. New tires$156 million · 1.7%
  7. Monitors and projectors$149 million · 1.6%
  8. Alcohols$141 million · 1.5%
  9. Petroleum coke and bitumen$120 million · 1.3%
  10. Auto parts$115 million · 1.2%

Reference ports

Puerto La Cruz (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.

All maritime chokepoints