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

In 2024, an estimated $2.6 billion of Sri Lanka’s trade passed through the Strait of Gibraltar, 9.5% of its seaborne trade. That is $1.8 billion of exports and $799 million of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are Italy, France and the United States.

Summary

Estimated value
$2.6billion
Of its seaborne trade
9.5%
Exports
$1.8billion
Imports
$799million

Trend

Estimated value per year

Sri Lanka’s estimated trade through the Strait of Gibraltar fell 50% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Sri Lanka 2.6

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$2.3 billion37.5%
1996$2.3 billion37.5%
1997$2.6 billion36.8%
1998$2.6 billion35.1%
1999$2.9 billion33%
2000$2.9 billion29.7%
2001$2.8 billion31.1%
2002$2.8 billion29.5%
2003$2.8 billion27.7%
2004$3.3 billion27.1%
2005$3.5 billion26.7%
2006$4.1 billion26.7%
2007$4 billion23.9%
2008$4 billion21.1%
2009$3.8 billion26%
2010$3.7 billion20.1%
2011$4.4 billion17.4%
2012$4.1 billion17.7%
2013$4.2 billion18%
2014$4.6 billion17.9%
2015$4.7 billion18.5%
2016$4.8 billion19.3%
2017$4.4 billion16.9%
2018$4.8 billion19.1%
2019$5.1 billion19.1%
2020$4.8 billion21.5%
2021$5.2 billion18.1%
2022$5.8 billion21.3%
2023$4.9 billion20.5%
2024$2.6 billion9.5%

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. Sri Lanka–Italy$545 million · 21.1%
  2. Sri Lanka–France$274 million · 10.6%
  3. Sri Lanka–United States$257 million · 10%
  4. Sri Lanka–Russia$233 million · 9%
  5. Sri Lanka–Turkey$162 million · 6.3%
  6. Sri Lanka–Spain$143 million · 5.6%
  7. Sri Lanka–Germany$129 million · 5%
  8. Sri Lanka–United Kingdom$124 million · 4.8%
  9. Sri Lanka–Austria$82 million · 3.2%
  10. Sri Lanka–Peru$61 million · 2.4%

What crosses it

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

  1. Tea$258 million · 10%
  2. Wheat$109 million · 4.2%
  3. Bras and corsets$106 million · 4.1%
  4. Men's knitted underwear and pajamas$102 million · 3.9%
  5. Coal$99 million · 3.8%
  6. Used and retreaded tires$96 million · 3.7%
  7. T-shirts$87 million · 3.4%
  8. Other knitted fabric$77 million · 3%
  9. Women's knitted underwear and pajamas$75 million · 2.9%
  10. Knitted gloves$75 million · 2.9%

Reference ports

Colombo (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