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

In 2024, an estimated $23.6 billion of Nigeria’s trade passed through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, 23.1% of its seaborne trade. That is $8.1 billion of exports and $15.5 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, South Korea and Thailand.

Summary

Estimated value
$23.6billion
Of its seaborne trade
23.1%
Exports
$8.1billion
Imports
$15.5billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Nigeria’s estimated trade through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore rose 14% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Nigeria 23.6

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$1.4 billion8.5%
1996$2 billion8.5%
1997$2.4 billion10.4%
1998$1.7 billion9.3%
1999$1.8 billion9.2%
2000$2.6 billion9%
2001$3.3 billion11%
2002$4.2 billion15.4%
2003$4.7 billion12.7%
2004$6.1 billion13%
2005$5.9 billion9.8%
2006$8.4 billion9.9%
2007$10.3 billion9.6%
2008$14.6 billion11.1%
2009$11.2 billion12.4%
2010$13.3 billion10.6%
2011$20.3 billion12.3%
2012$21.6 billion14.7%
2013$22.8 billion16.4%
2014$28 billion19.3%
2015$18.3 billion19.9%
2016$12 billion17.8%
2017$15.9 billion19.7%
2018$18.7 billion18.8%
2019$20.7 billion20.4%
2020$24.3 billion28%
2021$26.5 billion25.4%
2022$26.4 billion20.6%
2023$22.3 billion20.5%
2024$23.6 billion23.1%

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. Nigeria–China$16.7 billion · 70.6%
  2. Nigeria–South Korea$2.3 billion · 9.7%
  3. Nigeria–Thailand$1.3 billion · 5.3%
  4. Nigeria–Japan$1.2 billion · 5.2%
  5. Nigeria–Singapore$742 million · 3.1%
  6. Nigeria–Vietnam$512 million · 2.2%
  7. Nigeria–Philippines$266 million · 1.1%
  8. Nigeria–Taiwan$238 million · 1%
  9. Nigeria–Malaysia$189 million · 0.8%
  10. Nigeria–Hong Kong$135 million · 0.57%

What crosses it

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

  1. Natural gas and LPG$2.8 billion · 12%
  2. Crude petroleum$1.9 billion · 8%
  3. Refined petroleum$1.2 billion · 5.2%
  4. Synthetic filament fabric$477 million · 2%
  5. Cameras and broadcast equipment$347 million · 1.5%
  6. Aluminum sheet$316 million · 1.3%
  7. New tires$304 million · 1.3%
  8. Polyethers, polyesters and epoxy resins$303 million · 1.3%
  9. Auto parts$302 million · 1.3%
  10. Pesticides and herbicides$250 million · 1.1%

Reference ports

Lagos (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