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

In 2024, an estimated $3.2 billion of Djibouti’s trade passed through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, 46.4% of its seaborne trade. That is $25 million of exports and $3.2 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, Malaysia and South Korea.

Summary

Estimated value
$3.2billion
Of its seaborne trade
46.4%
Exports
$25million
Imports
$3.2billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Djibouti’s estimated trade through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore rose 36% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Djibouti 3.2

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$113 million42.1%
1996$76 million31.1%
1997$65 million27.5%
1998$106 million31.4%
1999$118 million33.4%
2000$114 million34.5%
2001$89 million29%
2002$88 million23.3%
2003$121 million27.5%
2004$126 million23.2%
2005$196 million22.2%
2006$254 million24.3%
2007$294 million17.1%
2008$419 million19.6%
2009$396 million21%
2010$486 million27.9%
2011$667 million29.3%
2012$1.1 billion35.3%
2013$1.2 billion39.5%
2014$1.2 billion38.6%
2015$2.1 billion53.1%
2016$2.2 billion53.6%
2017$2.4 billion52.5%
2018$2 billion36.5%
2019$2.3 billion46.2%
2020$2.6 billion49.3%
2021$2.8 billion38.4%
2022$3.6 billion38.3%
2023$3.6 billion36.1%
2024$3.2 billion46.4%

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. Djibouti–China$3 billion · 95.3%
  2. Djibouti–Malaysia$40 million · 1.3%
  3. Djibouti–South Korea$37 million · 1.2%
  4. Djibouti–Japan$31 million · 0.97%
  5. Djibouti–Thailand$15 million · 0.46%
  6. Djibouti–Taiwan$13 million · 0.42%
  7. Djibouti–Singapore$11 million · 0.33%
  8. Djibouti–New Zealand$2 million · 0.07%
  9. Djibouti–Hong Kong$969 thousand · 0.03%
  10. Djibouti–Canada$177 thousand · 0.01%

What crosses it

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

  1. Trucks$201 million · 6.3%
  2. Rubber and plastic footwear$148 million · 4.6%
  3. Cars$133 million · 4.2%
  4. Coated flat steel$102 million · 3.2%
  5. Hot-rolled flat steel$95 million · 3%
  6. Semi-finished steel$83 million · 2.6%
  7. Synthetic filament fabric$63 million · 2%
  8. Lamps and light fittings$53 million · 1.7%
  9. Other knitted fabric$51 million · 1.6%
  10. New tires$50 million · 1.6%

Reference ports

Djibouti (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