globaltraffic.earth

How much of Russia’s trade passes through the Turkish Straits?

In 2024, an estimated $108.3 billion of Russia’s trade passed through the Turkish Straits, 37.7% of its seaborne trade. That is $86.4 billion of exports and $21.9 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are India, Turkey and China.

Summary

Estimated value
$108.3billion
Of its seaborne trade
37.7%
Exports
$86.4billion
Imports
$21.9billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Russia’s estimated trade through the Turkish Straits fell 24% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Russia 108

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$25.6 billion34.1%
1996$37.4 billion36.4%
1997$37.3 billion36.2%
1998$31 billion35.6%
1999$28 billion35.2%
2000$33.3 billion35.1%
2001$34.2 billion34.9%
2002$37.1 billion34.7%
2003$46.7 billion35%
2004$65.6 billion35.1%
2005$87.6 billion35.1%
2006$108.5 billion35.3%
2007$130.7 billion35.8%
2008$163.3 billion35.5%
2009$111 billion35.4%
2010$139.7 billion35.4%
2011$171.4 billion35%
2012$175.7 billion35.2%
2013$171.5 billion35.3%
2014$169.1 billion35.1%
2015$115.8 billion35.5%
2016$106.4 billion35.5%
2017$132.9 billion35.7%
2018$150.9 billion35.8%
2019$143 billion36%
2020$112.1 billion36.1%
2021$161.9 billion36.1%
2022$164.5 billion37%
2023$122.4 billion38.1%
2024$108.3 billion37.7%

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. Russia–India$22 billion · 20.3%
  2. Russia–Turkey$19.9 billion · 18.4%
  3. Russia–China$12 billion · 11.1%
  4. Russia–Uzbekistan$7 billion · 6.4%
  5. Russia–Brazil$4.3 billion · 4%
  6. Russia–South Korea$3.2 billion · 2.9%
  7. Russia–Armenia$2.6 billion · 2.4%
  8. Russia–Germany$2.3 billion · 2.1%
  9. Russia–Japan$2.2 billion · 2%
  10. Russia–Kyrgyzstan$2.2 billion · 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$19.5 billion · 18%
  2. Refined petroleum$18.8 billion · 17.3%
  3. Natural gas and LPG$9 billion · 8.3%
  4. Coal$7.8 billion · 7.2%
  5. Wheat$3.1 billion · 2.9%
  6. Semi-finished steel$2.1 billion · 1.9%
  7. Mixed fertilizers$1.8 billion · 1.7%
  8. Sunflower, safflower and cottonseed oil$1.6 billion · 1.5%
  9. Nitrogen fertilizers$1.6 billion · 1.5%
  10. Potash fertilizers$1.5 billion · 1.4%

Reference ports

Saint Petersburg (31%), Murmansk (10%), Novorossiysk (32%) and Vladivostok (27%)

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.

The Bosporus and the Dardanelles are counted together: they are the two gates between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

All maritime chokepoints