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

In 2024, an estimated $43 billion of Kuwait’s trade passed through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, 48.7% of its seaborne trade. That is $33.7 billion of exports and $9.3 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, South Korea and Japan.

Summary

Estimated value
$43billion
Of its seaborne trade
48.7%
Exports
$33.7billion
Imports
$9.3billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Kuwait’s estimated trade through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore fell 18% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Kuwait 43

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$6.8 billion47.3%
1996$8.2 billion48%
1997$8.9 billion54%
1998$6.6 billion47.2%
1999$7.8 billion48.8%
2000$13.2 billion55.1%
2001$12.3 billion57.4%
2002$12.8 billion58.2%
2003$15.9 billion57.3%
2004$20.8 billion57%
2005$27.7 billion57.5%
2006$35 billion53.4%
2007$40.2 billion51.6%
2008$57.3 billion52.6%
2009$33.9 billion52.9%
2010$46.4 billion53.5%
2011$62.8 billion53.5%
2012$69 billion52.2%
2013$66.7 billion50.6%
2014$56.8 billion48.1%
2015$41.1 billion52.3%
2016$34.2 billion51.1%
2017$42.3 billion52.9%
2018$59 billion59.1%
2019$52.2 billion58.7%
2020$36.4 billion58.5%
2021$51.7 billion58.9%
2022$73.6 billion59%
2023$60.3 billion53.5%
2024$43 billion48.7%

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. Kuwait–China$16.9 billion · 39.3%
  2. Kuwait–South Korea$9.5 billion · 22.1%
  3. Kuwait–Japan$9.1 billion · 21.2%
  4. Kuwait–Taiwan$3.5 billion · 8.2%
  5. Kuwait–Thailand$1.2 billion · 2.8%
  6. Kuwait–Singapore$1.1 billion · 2.4%
  7. Kuwait–United States$786 million · 1.8%
  8. Kuwait–Vietnam$278 million · 0.65%
  9. Kuwait–Australia$253 million · 0.59%
  10. Kuwait–Philippines$128 million · 0.3%

What crosses it

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

  1. Crude petroleum$24.4 billion · 56.8%
  2. Refined petroleum$6.8 billion · 15.8%
  3. Cars$2.7 billion · 6.4%
  4. Natural gas and LPG$1.1 billion · 2.4%
  5. Polyethylene$465 million · 1.1%
  6. Trucks$400 million · 0.93%
  7. Seamless steel pipes$327 million · 0.76%
  8. T-shirts$250 million · 0.58%
  9. Cyclic hydrocarbons$225 million · 0.52%
  10. Alcohols$207 million · 0.48%

Reference ports

Shuaiba (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