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

In 2024, an estimated $2.6 billion of Mauritania’s trade passed through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, 33.1% of its seaborne trade. That is $1.5 billion of exports and $1.1 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, Japan and South Korea.

Summary

Estimated value
$2.6billion
Of its seaborne trade
33.1%
Exports
$1.5billion
Imports
$1.1billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Mauritania’s estimated trade through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore fell 19% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Mauritania 2.6

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$252 million24.7%
1996$261 million23.9%
1997$225 million20.1%
1998$147 million14.1%
1999$182 million17.3%
2000$187 million16.6%
2001$165 million13.4%
2002$176 million12.9%
2003$232 million15.9%
2004$397 million21%
2005$371 million16.7%
2006$696 million23.6%
2007$936 million25.5%
2008$1.6 billion33.8%
2009$1.5 billion38.1%
2010$1.8 billion35.7%
2011$2.2 billion31.2%
2012$2.6 billion33.8%
2013$3.5 billion40.1%
2014$2.6 billion30.4%
2015$2.1 billion29.7%
2016$2.3 billion38.2%
2017$2.8 billion36.9%
2018$2.9 billion36.6%
2019$3.3 billion39.7%
2020$2.5 billion38.7%
2021$3.1 billion39.6%
2022$2.7 billion30.5%
2023$2.6 billion31.8%
2024$2.6 billion33.1%

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. Mauritania–China$2.3 billion · 86.1%
  2. Mauritania–Japan$239 million · 9.1%
  3. Mauritania–South Korea$50 million · 1.9%
  4. Mauritania–Singapore$28 million · 1.1%
  5. Mauritania–Thailand$23 million · 0.88%
  6. Mauritania–Malaysia$13 million · 0.49%
  7. Mauritania–Taiwan$5 million · 0.21%
  8. Mauritania–Russia$4 million · 0.16%
  9. Mauritania–Vietnam$3 million · 0.1%
  10. Mauritania–Hong Kong$1 million · 0.04%

What crosses it

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

  1. Iron ore$1 billion · 38.5%
  2. Copper ore$221 million · 8.4%
  3. Prepared shellfish$132 million · 5%
  4. Meat and fish meal$86 million · 3.3%
  5. Cars$72 million · 2.7%
  6. Rayon fabric$54 million · 2%
  7. Other iron or steel articles$52 million · 2%
  8. Tea$48 million · 1.8%
  9. Trucks$32 million · 1.2%
  10. Mollusks (squid, mussels, oysters)$31 million · 1.2%

Reference ports

Nouadhibou (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