globaltraffic.earth

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

In 2024, an estimated $40.5 billion of India’s trade passed through the Suez Canal, 5.6% of its seaborne trade. That is $21.6 billion of exports and $18.9 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are the United States, Russia and Germany.

Summary

Estimated value
$40.5billion
Of its seaborne trade
5.6%
Exports
$21.6billion
Imports
$18.9billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

India’s estimated trade through the Suez Canal fell 77% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • India 40.5

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$27.3 billion46.7%
1996$29.5 billion45.6%
1997$31.4 billion46.9%
1998$31.9 billion46.5%
1999$35.1 billion44.2%
2000$33.2 billion46.3%
2001$33.6 billion48.1%
2002$39.1 billion48.2%
2003$43.2 billion46.1%
2004$55.1 billion43.2%
2005$70.2 billion44%
2006$82.5 billion35.9%
2007$90.6 billion33.2%
2008$119.8 billion31.6%
2009$101.8 billion32.2%
2010$125.2 billion29.3%
2011$155.1 billion29.1%
2012$161.8 billion30.2%
2013$162 billion30.6%
2014$162.8 billion30.4%
2015$140.7 billion33.2%
2016$131 billion33.9%
2017$149.4 billion32.2%
2018$171 billion31.7%
2019$173.3 billion33.4%
2020$139.3 billion33%
2021$199.5 billion32.3%
2022$274.8 billion33.8%
2023$268.1 billion37.4%
2024$40.5 billion5.6%

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. India–United States$8.5 billion · 20.9%
  2. India–Russia$7.5 billion · 18.6%
  3. India–Germany$3.1 billion · 7.7%
  4. India–United Kingdom$2.2 billion · 5.4%
  5. India–Italy$1.6 billion · 4%
  6. India–Netherlands$1.5 billion · 3.7%
  7. India–France$1.4 billion · 3.5%
  8. India–Mexico$1.3 billion · 3.1%
  9. India–Turkey$1.2 billion · 2.9%
  10. India–Spain$967 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. Crude petroleum$7.8 billion · 19.2%
  2. Refined petroleum$2.6 billion · 6.4%
  3. Auto parts$1 billion · 2.6%
  4. Coal$958 million · 2.4%
  5. Medicines in measured doses or retail packs$629 million · 1.6%
  6. Cars$556 million · 1.4%
  7. Transmission shafts, gears and gearboxes$422 million · 1%
  8. Rice$370 million · 0.91%
  9. Ferrous scrap$356 million · 0.88%
  10. Sunflower, safflower and cottonseed oil$356 million · 0.88%

If it closes

  • India–United States: +3,350 nautical miles, ≈ 10 days more at 14 knots, via the Cape of Good Hope
  • India–Russia: +7,812 nautical miles, ≈ 23.5 days more at 14 knots, via the Cape of Good Hope, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Dardanelles and the Bosporus
  • Germany–India: +4,504 nautical miles, ≈ 13.5 days more at 14 knots, via the Strait of Dover and the Cape of Good Hope
  • United Kingdom–India: +4,440 nautical miles, ≈ 13 days more at 14 knots, via the Cape of Good Hope
  • India–Italy: +6,145 nautical miles, ≈ 18.5 days more at 14 knots, via the Cape of Good Hope and the Strait of Gibraltar

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

Reference ports

Nhava Sheva (Mumbai) (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