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How much of Greece’s trade passes through the Suez Canal?

In 2024, an estimated $6 billion of Greece’s trade passed through the Suez Canal, 5.5% of its seaborne trade. That is $1.4 billion of exports and $4.7 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are Saudi Arabia, China and Iraq.

Summary

Estimated value
$6billion
Of its seaborne trade
5.5%
Exports
$1.4billion
Imports
$4.7billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Greece’s estimated trade through the Suez Canal fell 68% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Greece 6

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$3.8 billion13.4%
1996$4.8 billion15.5%
1997$4.6 billion15.7%
1998$5 billion16.2%
1999$5.2 billion16.6%
2000$6.6 billion20.2%
2001$6.8 billion21.1%
2002$6.9 billion20.3%
2003$10.1 billion22.8%
2004$11.1 billion21.7%
2005$12.5 billion22.6%
2006$15.3 billion23.1%
2007$15.2 billion20.6%
2008$17.4 billion20.1%
2009$12.7 billion19.4%
2010$13.9 billion20.7%
2011$19.6 billion27%
2012$19.1 billion27.3%
2013$16.7 billion23.8%
2014$16.9 billion24%
2015$12 billion21.2%
2016$12.7 billion21.9%
2017$17.1 billion25.8%
2018$20.8 billion26.2%
2019$18.9 billion25.1%
2020$13.8 billion20.7%
2021$22.7 billion24.4%
2022$30.6 billion25.3%
2023$26.1 billion23.4%
2024$6 billion5.5%

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. Greece–Saudi Arabia$2.2 billion · 36.1%
  2. Greece–China$1.1 billion · 19%
  3. Greece–Iraq$822 million · 13.6%
  4. Greece–Egypt$454 million · 7.5%
  5. Greece–South Korea$345 million · 5.7%
  6. Greece–India$166 million · 2.8%
  7. Greece–Jordan$105 million · 1.7%
  8. Greece–South Africa$100 million · 1.6%
  9. Greece–Russia$80 million · 1.3%
  10. Greece–United Arab Emirates$65 million · 1.1%

What crosses it

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

  1. Crude petroleum$2.1 billion · 35%
  2. Refined petroleum$1.1 billion · 18.8%
  3. Cargo and cruise ships$153 million · 2.5%
  4. Unwrought aluminum$140 million · 2.3%
  5. Diodes, transistors and solar cells$126 million · 2.1%
  6. Natural gas and LPG$90 million · 1.5%
  7. Polyethylene$59 million · 0.97%
  8. Copper scrap$47 million · 0.77%
  9. Cars$44 million · 0.73%
  10. Polypropylene$44 million · 0.72%

If it closes

  • China–Greece: +6,649 nautical miles, ≈ 20 days more at 14 knots, via the Strait of Malacca and Singapore; the Cape of Good Hope; and the Strait of Gibraltar
  • Greece–Iraq: +8,159 nautical miles, ≈ 24.5 days more at 14 knots, via the Strait of Gibraltar, the Cape of Good Hope and the Strait of Hormuz
  • Greece–South Korea: +6,653 nautical miles, ≈ 20 days more at 14 knots, via the Strait of Gibraltar; the Cape of Good Hope; and the Strait of Malacca and Singapore
  • Greece–India: +7,680 nautical miles, ≈ 23 days more at 14 knots, via the Strait of Gibraltar and the Cape of Good Hope
  • Greece–Russia: +6,652 nautical miles, ≈ 20 days more at 14 knots, via the Strait of Gibraltar; the Cape of Good Hope; and the Strait of Malacca and Singapore

Estimated sailing detour, without costs, waiting or port capacity.

Reference ports

Piraeus (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