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

In 2024, an estimated $284.3 billion of Turkey’s trade passed through the Turkish Straits, 63% of its seaborne trade. That is $141.3 billion of exports and $143 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are Germany, China and Russia.

Summary

Estimated value
$284.3billion
Of its seaborne trade
63%
Exports
$141.3billion
Imports
$143billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Turkey’s estimated trade through the Turkish Straits rose 48% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Turkey 284

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$29.2 billion65.3%
1996$34.5 billion66.6%
1997$39.5 billion66.8%
1998$38.4 billion66.7%
1999$36.4 billion67.5%
2000$43.6 billion67.5%
2001$38.9 billion67.7%
2002$46.7 billion67.8%
2003$60.8 billion67.2%
2004$82.7 billion66.6%
2005$94.6 billion65.9%
2006$110.5 billion65.8%
2007$133.9 billion64.2%
2008$157.2 billion63.5%
2009$117.7 billion64.6%
2010$144.7 billion63.5%
2011$173.1 billion63.4%
2012$174 billion63.4%
2013$188.9 billion63.3%
2014$192.2 billion63.5%
2015$175.8 billion64.2%
2016$173.1 billion64.8%
2017$197.7 billion65%
2018$206.7 billion64.8%
2019$192.6 billion63.4%
2020$186.4 billion63.6%
2021$248.7 billion63.7%
2022$291 billion62.7%
2023$289.7 billion62.8%
2024$284.3 billion63%

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. Turkey–Germany$32.8 billion · 11.5%
  2. Turkey–China$20.4 billion · 7.2%
  3. Turkey–Russia$19.9 billion · 7%
  4. Turkey–United States$18.6 billion · 6.5%
  5. Turkey–Italy$17.2 billion · 6.1%
  6. Turkey–United Kingdom$16.9 billion · 6%
  7. Turkey–France$14.1 billion · 5%
  8. Turkey–Spain$14.1 billion · 5%
  9. Turkey–Poland$9.3 billion · 3.3%
  10. Turkey–Netherlands$9 billion · 3.2%

What crosses it

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

  1. Cars$21.2 billion · 7.5%
  2. Refined petroleum$16.8 billion · 5.9%
  3. Auto parts$10 billion · 3.5%
  4. Trucks$7.2 billion · 2.5%
  5. Ferrous scrap$6.2 billion · 2.2%
  6. Cables and wire$3.4 billion · 1.2%
  7. Coal$3 billion · 1.1%
  8. Natural gas and LPG$2.6 billion · 0.92%
  9. Hot-rolled flat steel$2.6 billion · 0.92%
  10. Engine parts$2.5 billion · 0.87%

Reference ports

Istanbul (64%), Samsun (6%) and Mersin (29%)

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