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

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. Malaysia–China$89 billion · 36.4%
2. Malaysia–Singapore$35.7 billion · 14.6%
3. Malaysia–Japan$19.2 billion · 7.9%
4. Malaysia–Australia$14.6 billion · 6%
5. Malaysia–South Korea$13.5 billion · 5.5%
6. Malaysia–United States$12.3 billion · 5%
7. Malaysia–Vietnam$9.4 billion · 3.8%
8. Malaysia–Indonesia$9.2 billion · 3.8%
9. Malaysia–Taiwan$6.8 billion · 2.8%
10. Malaysia–Philippines$5.1 billion · 2.1%

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

1. Refined petroleum$44 billion · 18%
2. Crude petroleum$27.6 billion · 11.3%
3. Natural gas and LPG$15.9 billion · 6.5%
4. Palm oil$4.7 billion · 1.9%
5. Unwrought aluminum$3.6 billion · 1.5%
6. Coal$3.3 billion · 1.3%
7. Diodes, transistors and solar cells$2.6 billion · 1.1%
8. Auto parts$2 billion · 0.83%
9. Other industrial machines$1.9 billion · 0.79%
10. Polyethylene$1.9 billion · 0.79%

• China–Malaysia: +1,626 nautical miles, ≈ 5 days more at 14 knots
• Malaysia–Singapore: +1,769 nautical miles, ≈ 5.5 days more at 14 knots

Estimated sailing detour, without costs, waiting or port capacity.

Port Klang (87%) and Bintulu (13%)

Each port with the weight it receives from the country’s trade, based on where its GDP is generated and which coast is closest.

• See Strait of Malacca and Singapore
• Malaysia trade

Other chokepoints it uses

• Cape of Good Hope · 15%

Sources and licenses

• CEPII BACI · Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
• World Bank, Global Shipping Traffic Density · CC BY 4.0 (route network derived by this site)
• World Port Index (NGA) · Public domain (US Government work)
• Natural Earth · Public domain
• Kummu et al., gridded GDP · CC BY 4.0 (split between ports done by this site)

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.