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How much of Cameroon’s trade passes through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore?

In 2024, an estimated $5.4 billion of Cameroon’s trade passed through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, 38% of its seaborne trade. That is $1.5 billion of exports and $3.9 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, South Korea and Thailand.

Summary

Estimated value
$5.4billion
Of its seaborne trade
38%
Exports
$1.5billion
Imports
$3.9billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Cameroon’s estimated trade through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore rose 71% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Cameroon 5.4

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$288 million9.1%
1996$304 million9.1%
1997$475 million12%
1998$271 million8.1%
1999$347 million11.4%
2000$645 million17.4%
2001$510 million13.3%
2002$392 million10.8%
2003$540 million12.4%
2004$898 million17.3%
2005$880 million15%
2006$1.1 billion15.8%
2007$1.4 billion16.3%
2008$1.9 billion20%
2009$1.5 billion19.8%
2010$1.6 billion18.8%
2011$2.2 billion22.4%
2012$2.1 billion21.3%
2013$2.1 billion20.9%
2014$3.1 billion27.1%
2015$2.5 billion28.2%
2016$2.2 billion27.2%
2017$2.5 billion27.4%
2018$3.2 billion30.7%
2019$3.1 billion28.6%
2020$2.8 billion28%
2021$3.8 billion33.2%
2022$3.5 billion24.4%
2023$3.3 billion23.6%
2024$5.4 billion38%

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. Cameroon–China$4.7 billion · 87%
  2. Cameroon–South Korea$195 million · 3.6%
  3. Cameroon–Thailand$182 million · 3.4%
  4. Cameroon–Singapore$122 million · 2.3%
  5. Cameroon–Malaysia$104 million · 1.9%
  6. Cameroon–Japan$73 million · 1.4%
  7. Cameroon–Taiwan$18 million · 0.34%
  8. Cameroon–Hong Kong$1 million · 0.03%

What crosses it

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

  1. Crude petroleum$839 million · 15.6%
  2. Natural gas and LPG$275 million · 5.1%
  3. Rice$214 million · 4%
  4. Rubber and plastic footwear$138 million · 2.6%
  5. Cocoa beans$133 million · 2.5%
  6. Pesticides and herbicides$118 million · 2.2%
  7. Cameras and broadcast equipment$117 million · 2.2%
  8. Logs$95 million · 1.8%
  9. Motorcycles$91 million · 1.7%
  10. Cranes$73 million · 1.4%

Reference ports

Douala (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