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

In 2024, an estimated $12.4 billion of Pakistan’s trade passed through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, 17.3% of its seaborne trade. That is $4.2 billion of exports and $8.2 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, the United States and Singapore.

Summary

Estimated value
$12.4billion
Of its seaborne trade
17.3%
Exports
$4.2billion
Imports
$8.2billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Pakistan’s estimated trade through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore rose 9% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Pakistan 12.4

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$4.2 billion34.3%
1996$4.4 billion34.9%
1997$4.2 billion35.8%
1998$3.6 billion31.2%
1999$3.6 billion33.1%
2000$3.8 billion31.7%
2001$3.7 billion30.3%
2002$4.1 billion30.3%
2003$5.2 billion23.3%
2004$5.8 billion22.9%
2005$7.7 billion22.7%
2006$8.4 billion22%
2007$9 billion22.2%
2008$10.2 billion19.2%
2009$7.8 billion19.2%
2010$9.8 billion20.4%
2011$11.4 billion19.6%
2012$11.4 billion20.7%
2013$11.1 billion20.1%
2014$11.2 billion19.3%
2015$11.2 billion21.7%
2016$11.3 billion21.9%
2017$13.6 billion22.4%
2018$13.9 billion20.8%
2019$11.4 billion19.3%
2020$10.4 billion19%
2021$16.7 billion20.5%
2022$16.4 billion18.6%
2023$12 billion16.5%
2024$12.4 billion17.3%

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. Pakistan–China$2.8 billion · 22.6%
  2. Pakistan–United States$1.6 billion · 12.6%
  3. Pakistan–Singapore$1.5 billion · 11.8%
  4. Pakistan–Japan$1.4 billion · 11.1%
  5. Pakistan–Thailand$1.3 billion · 10.3%
  6. Pakistan–South Korea$1.2 billion · 9.9%
  7. Pakistan–Australia$685 million · 5.5%
  8. Pakistan–Vietnam$472 million · 3.8%
  9. Pakistan–Taiwan$358 million · 2.9%
  10. Pakistan–Philippines$330 million · 2.7%

What crosses it

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

  1. Refined petroleum$1.4 billion · 11.5%
  2. Cars$774 million · 6.3%
  3. Hot-rolled flat steel$601 million · 4.9%
  4. Bed, table and kitchen linen$398 million · 3.2%
  5. Coated flat steel$345 million · 2.8%
  6. Rice$290 million · 2.3%
  7. Rapeseed (canola)$277 million · 2.2%
  8. Mixed fertilizers$249 million · 2%
  9. Dried legumes (beans, lentils, peas)$200 million · 1.6%
  10. Corn$198 million · 1.6%

Reference ports

Karachi (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