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

In 2024, an estimated $6.1 billion of Libya’s trade passed through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, 12.9% of its seaborne trade. That is $1.8 billion of exports and $4.3 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, Thailand and South Korea.

Summary

Estimated value
$6.1billion
Of its seaborne trade
12.9%
Exports
$1.8billion
Imports
$4.3billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Libya’s estimated trade through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore fell 45% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Libya 6.1

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$512 million4.2%
1996$746 million5.2%
1997$613 million4.4%
1998$442 million4.2%
1999$426 million3.8%
2000$362 million2.3%
2001$400 million2.6%
2002$810 million5.9%
2003$637 million3.6%
2004$1.4 billion5.9%
2005$1.9 billion5.5%
2006$3.1 billion6.9%
2007$2.9 billion6.7%
2008$4.7 billion7.8%
2009$6.8 billion15%
2010$8.9 billion16%
2011$3.5 billion14.7%
2012$11.8 billion15.8%
2013$7.7 billion12.5%
2014$4.6 billion13.4%
2015$3.8 billion19.4%
2016$4.1 billion15.2%
2017$3.6 billion13.5%
2018$8 billion19.4%
2019$11 billion24.7%
2020$3.9 billion21.8%
2021$7.4 billion16%
2022$8.2 billion14.8%
2023$8.4 billion15.8%
2024$6.1 billion12.9%

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. Libya–China$4.6 billion · 76%
  2. Libya–Thailand$848 million · 13.9%
  3. Libya–South Korea$460 million · 7.5%
  4. Libya–Singapore$64 million · 1%
  5. Libya–Japan$33 million · 0.54%
  6. Libya–Malaysia$21 million · 0.34%
  7. Libya–Taiwan$21 million · 0.34%
  8. Libya–New Zealand$15 million · 0.24%
  9. Libya–Hong Kong$4 million · 0.06%

What crosses it

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

  1. Crude petroleum$1.8 billion · 29.3%
  2. Cars$346 million · 5.7%
  3. New tires$187 million · 3.1%
  4. Prepared fish and caviar$164 million · 2.7%
  5. Earthmoving and drilling machines$164 million · 2.7%
  6. Auto parts$157 million · 2.6%
  7. Air conditioners$143 million · 2.4%
  8. Lamps and light fittings$115 million · 1.9%
  9. Bulldozers and excavators$88 million · 1.4%
  10. Trucks$85 million · 1.4%

Reference ports

Tripoli (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