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How much of Ecuador’s trade passes through the Strait of Gibraltar?

In 2024, an estimated $4.9 billion of Ecuador’s trade passed through the Strait of Gibraltar, 8.6% of its seaborne trade. That is $3.1 billion of exports and $1.8 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are Italy, India and Spain.

Summary

Estimated value
$4.9billion
Of its seaborne trade
8.6%
Exports
$3.1billion
Imports
$1.8billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Ecuador’s estimated trade through the Strait of Gibraltar rose 44% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Ecuador 4.9

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$707 million8.5%
1996$755 million9%
1997$839 million9.1%
1998$890 million9.7%
1999$708 million9.3%
2000$643 million8%
2001$923 million9.5%
2002$1 billion9.3%
2003$1.1 billion9.4%
2004$1.3 billion8.6%
2005$1.5 billion8.3%
2006$1.8 billion8.4%
2007$2.2 billion9.1%
2008$2.6 billion7.7%
2009$2.2 billion8.7%
2010$2.4 billion7.4%
2011$2.8 billion7.1%
2012$3.2 billion7.9%
2013$3.6 billion8.1%
2014$3.7 billion8.1%
2015$3.4 billion9.9%
2016$2.6 billion9.2%
2017$3.2 billion9.4%
2018$3.4 billion9%
2019$3.4 billion8.5%
2020$3.6 billion10.6%
2021$4.8 billion10.3%
2022$5.1 billion8.5%
2023$5.1 billion10%
2024$4.9 billion8.6%

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. Ecuador–Italy$1.4 billion · 27.5%
  2. Ecuador–India$666 million · 13.5%
  3. Ecuador–Spain$568 million · 11.5%
  4. Ecuador–Russia$317 million · 6.4%
  5. Ecuador–Turkey$220 million · 4.5%
  6. Ecuador–Greece$212 million · 4.3%
  7. Ecuador–Saudi Arabia$200 million · 4%
  8. Ecuador–Bulgaria$167 million · 3.4%
  9. Ecuador–France$144 million · 2.9%
  10. Ecuador–Slovakia$143 million · 2.9%

What crosses it

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

  1. Bananas$1.5 billion · 29.6%
  2. Crustaceans (shrimp, lobster, crab)$564 million · 11.4%
  3. Coal tar oils$530 million · 10.7%
  4. Prepared fish and caviar$272 million · 5.5%
  5. Cocoa beans$208 million · 4.2%
  6. Cut flowers$153 million · 3.1%
  7. Cars$146 million · 3%
  8. Crude petroleum$111 million · 2.2%
  9. Precious metal ore$90 million · 1.8%
  10. Refined petroleum$85 million · 1.7%

Reference ports

Guayaquil (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