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

In 2024, an estimated $7.4 billion of Kenya’s trade passed through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, 29% of its seaborne trade. That is $562 million of exports and $6.8 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, Japan and the United States.

Summary

Estimated value
$7.4billion
Of its seaborne trade
29%
Exports
$562million
Imports
$6.8billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Kenya’s estimated trade through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore rose 28% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Kenya 7.4

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$648 million18.9%
1996$530 million16.4%
1997$641 million13.8%
1998$645 million13.9%
1999$608 million15.2%
2000$574 million13.7%
2001$689 million14%
2002$627 million15%
2003$683 million12.7%
2004$1 billion19.5%
2005$1.3 billion15.9%
2006$1.7 billion18%
2007$2.1 billion18.3%
2008$2.8 billion19.1%
2009$2.4 billion19.2%
2010$3.2 billion22.1%
2011$3.9 billion27.4%
2012$4.6 billion25.7%
2013$4.3 billion21.7%
2014$6.4 billion29.8%
2015$5.8 billion29.2%
2016$5.3 billion29.6%
2017$5.9 billion29.1%
2018$6.4 billion29.9%
2019$5.8 billion28.3%
2020$5.6 billion29%
2021$6.7 billion28.9%
2022$7 billion26.6%
2023$6.5 billion26.8%
2024$7.4 billion29%

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. Kenya–China$5.3 billion · 71.4%
  2. Kenya–Japan$849 million · 11.5%
  3. Kenya–United States$265 million · 3.6%
  4. Kenya–South Korea$186 million · 2.5%
  5. Kenya–Thailand$184 million · 2.5%
  6. Kenya–Russia$172 million · 2.3%
  7. Kenya–Malaysia$130 million · 1.8%
  8. Kenya–Taiwan$100 million · 1.4%
  9. Kenya–Vietnam$72 million · 0.98%
  10. Kenya–Singapore$68 million · 0.92%

What crosses it

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

  1. Hot-rolled flat steel$406 million · 5.5%
  2. Cars$362 million · 4.9%
  3. Rubber and plastic footwear$196 million · 2.7%
  4. Synthetic filament fabric$181 million · 2.5%
  5. New tires$180 million · 2.4%
  6. Wheat$147 million · 2%
  7. Other knitted fabric$145 million · 2%
  8. Railway freight cars$133 million · 1.8%
  9. Auto parts$129 million · 1.7%
  10. Used clothing$122 million · 1.7%

Reference ports

Mombasa (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