globaltraffic.earth

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

In 2024, an estimated $3.6 billion of Ethiopia’s trade passed through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, 49.2% of its seaborne trade. That is $707 million of exports and $2.9 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, South Korea and Japan.

Summary

Estimated value
$3.6billion
Of its seaborne trade
49.2%
Exports
$707million
Imports
$2.9billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Ethiopia’s estimated trade through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore fell 35% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Ethiopia 3.6

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$289 million16%
1996$235 million18.1%
1997$387 million20.2%
1998$376 million16.6%
1999$388 million20.4%
2000$344 million19.7%
2001$414 million19.9%
2002$468 million24.4%
2003$631 million23.7%
2004$728 million22.2%
2005$1.2 billion23.1%
2006$1.4 billion24.1%
2007$1.9 billion29.2%
2008$2 billion22.3%
2009$2.4 billion29.3%
2010$3 billion32.5%
2011$2.8 billion27.6%
2012$3.9 billion29.5%
2013$4.6 billion35.7%
2014$6.2 billion37.2%
2015$7 billion42.1%
2016$6.3 billion38.9%
2017$6.3 billion40.5%
2018$5.3 billion37.9%
2019$5.5 billion35.7%
2020$5.7 billion40.4%
2021$5.1 billion33.3%
2022$5.8 billion34.4%
2023$6.4 billion37.2%
2024$3.6 billion49.2%

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. Ethiopia–China$3.1 billion · 85.1%
  2. Ethiopia–South Korea$248 million · 6.9%
  3. Ethiopia–Japan$169 million · 4.7%
  4. Ethiopia–Taiwan$42 million · 1.2%
  5. Ethiopia–Thailand$26 million · 0.73%
  6. Ethiopia–Hong Kong$25 million · 0.7%
  7. Ethiopia–Canada$12 million · 0.34%
  8. Ethiopia–Singapore$10 million · 0.27%
  9. Ethiopia–Malaysia$3 million · 0.07%
  10. Ethiopia–Philippines$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. Coffee$372 million · 10.4%
  2. Other oilseeds$189 million · 5.3%
  3. Cables and wire$167 million · 4.7%
  4. Transformers and power supplies$125 million · 3.5%
  5. Refined petroleum$108 million · 3%
  6. Control panels$65 million · 1.8%
  7. Steel structures$59 million · 1.6%
  8. Pesticides and herbicides$56 million · 1.5%
  9. Cars$54 million · 1.5%
  10. Trucks$52 million · 1.5%

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