globaltraffic.earth

How much of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s trade passes through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore?

In 2024, an estimated $27.3 billion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s trade passed through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, 73.2% of its seaborne trade. That is $23 billion of exports and $4.3 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, South Korea and Thailand.

Summary

Estimated value
$27.3billion
Of its seaborne trade
73.2%
Exports
$23billion
Imports
$4.3billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s estimated trade through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore rose 179% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Democratic Republic of the Congo 27.3

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$225 million10.2%
1996$190 million8.1%
1997$115 million6.2%
1998$105 million6.6%
1999$37 million2.5%
2000$47 million3%
2001$54 million3.6%
2002$100 million5%
2003$99 million5.8%
2004$185 million9%
2005$263 million10.2%
2006$447 million11.8%
2007$637 million19.3%
2008$1.9 billion34.8%
2009$1.5 billion35.9%
2010$3.2 billion46.8%
2011$4.2 billion45.2%
2012$4.7 billion49.2%
2013$4 billion41.8%
2014$4.4 billion42.4%
2015$4.7 billion38.8%
2016$4.2 billion42.1%
2017$6.5 billion41.3%
2018$11.2 billion52.1%
2019$9.8 billion51.1%
2020$13.6 billion60.2%
2021$21.8 billion66.5%
2022$25 billion62.1%
2023$28.3 billion55.2%
2024$27.3 billion73.2%

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. Democratic Republic of the Congo–South Korea$993 million · 3.6%
  2. Democratic Republic of the Congo–Thailand$446 million · 1.6%
  3. Democratic Republic of the Congo–Japan$170 million · 0.62%
  4. Democratic Republic of the Congo–Taiwan$69 million · 0.25%
  5. Democratic Republic of the Congo–Singapore$66 million · 0.24%
  6. Democratic Republic of the Congo–Malaysia$44 million · 0.16%
  7. Democratic Republic of the Congo–Hong Kong$19 million · 0.07%

What crosses it

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

  1. Refined copper$15.4 billion · 56.3%
  2. Cobalt$3 billion · 11.1%
  3. Copper ore$2.5 billion · 9.2%
  4. Unrefined copper$1.1 billion · 4.1%
  5. Tin ore$601 million · 2.2%
  6. Trucks$271 million · 0.99%
  7. Sorting and crushing machines$177 million · 0.65%
  8. Crude petroleum$154 million · 0.56%
  9. Bulldozers and excavators$145 million · 0.53%
  10. Generating sets$108 million · 0.39%

Reference ports

Matadi (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.

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