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

In 2024, an estimated $130 billion of Saudi Arabia’s trade passed through the Suez Canal, 29.8% of its seaborne trade. That is $72.1 billion of exports and $57.9 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are the United States, Egypt and Italy.

Summary

Estimated value
$130billion
Of its seaborne trade
29.8%
Exports
$72.1billion
Imports
$57.9billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Saudi Arabia’s estimated trade through the Suez Canal rose 24% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Saudi Arabia 130

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$37.5 billion51.5%
1996$39.7 billion49%
1997$38.9 billion48.8%
1998$32.8 billion49.4%
1999$32.1 billion45.1%
2000$45.7 billion44.1%
2001$43.1 billion44.4%
2002$43 billion44.4%
2003$55.6 billion45.1%
2004$68.4 billion43.9%
2005$87.7 billion41.6%
2006$99.9 billion38.2%
2007$109.2 billion38%
2008$149.5 billion36.6%
2009$83.8 billion33.7%
2010$107.4 billion33.5%
2011$155 billion34.2%
2012$172.9 billion34.6%
2013$166.8 billion33.7%
2014$159.5 billion34.2%
2015$112 billion35.2%
2016$92.7 billion34.2%
2017$97.8 billion32.2%
2018$120.7 billion32.5%
2019$105.2 billion30%
2020$79.7 billion29.4%
2021$99.1 billion28%
2022$153 billion29.5%
2023$135.5 billion30.2%
2024$130 billion29.8%

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. Saudi Arabia–United States$19.4 billion · 14.9%
  2. Saudi Arabia–Egypt$12.8 billion · 9.8%
  3. Saudi Arabia–Italy$10.4 billion · 8%
  4. Saudi Arabia–Poland$9.3 billion · 7.2%
  5. Saudi Arabia–Turkey$6.8 billion · 5.2%
  6. Saudi Arabia–Germany$6.6 billion · 5.1%
  7. Saudi Arabia–France$6.4 billion · 5%
  8. Saudi Arabia–Brazil$6.3 billion · 4.9%
  9. Saudi Arabia–Netherlands$6.3 billion · 4.8%
  10. Saudi Arabia–Spain$5.5 billion · 4.2%

What crosses it

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

  1. Crude petroleum$32.2 billion · 24.8%
  2. Refined petroleum$27.2 billion · 20.9%
  3. Cars$4.4 billion · 3.4%
  4. Polyethylene$3.8 billion · 2.9%
  5. Polypropylene$3.1 billion · 2.4%
  6. Cyclic hydrocarbons$1.5 billion · 1.2%
  7. Poultry meat$1.3 billion · 0.99%
  8. Copper wire$1.2 billion · 0.95%
  9. Valves and taps$1.2 billion · 0.93%
  10. Wheat$1.1 billion · 0.85%

Reference ports

Jeddah (59%) and Ras Tanura (41%)

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