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

In 2024, an estimated $63.8 billion of Qatar’s trade passed through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, 58.8% of its seaborne trade. That is $55.7 billion of exports and $8.1 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, South Korea and Japan.

Summary

Estimated value
$63.8billion
Of its seaborne trade
58.8%
Exports
$55.7billion
Imports
$8.1billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Qatar’s estimated trade through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore rose 22% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Qatar 63.8

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$3.4 billion70.8%
1996$4.2 billion73.9%
1997$5.6 billion70.9%
1998$4.9 billion73.2%
1999$5.9 billion80.9%
2000$11.5 billion74.6%
2001$11.7 billion73.8%
2002$10.6 billion67.2%
2003$13.2 billion75.6%
2004$16.2 billion71.5%
2005$23.9 billion70.6%
2006$31.7 billion66.7%
2007$43.7 billion68.1%
2008$61 billion69%
2009$37.8 billion64.2%
2010$53.8 billion60.4%
2011$69.3 billion58.2%
2012$88 billion57.2%
2013$95.2 billion62%
2014$93.2 billion63.2%
2015$57 billion58.3%
2016$40.2 billion51.7%
2017$45.5 billion53.6%
2018$61.3 billion59.5%
2019$52.2 billion56.1%
2020$38.9 billion56.5%
2021$55.3 billion48%
2022$75.5 billion48.5%
2023$66.1 billion47%
2024$63.8 billion58.8%

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. Qatar–China$23.6 billion · 36.9%
  2. Qatar–South Korea$14.5 billion · 22.8%
  3. Qatar–Japan$8.6 billion · 13.5%
  4. Qatar–Singapore$5.8 billion · 9%
  5. Qatar–Taiwan$4.2 billion · 6.6%
  6. Qatar–Thailand$4.1 billion · 6.4%
  7. Qatar–Hong Kong$805 million · 1.3%
  8. Qatar–Australia$649 million · 1%
  9. Qatar–United States$562 million · 0.88%
  10. Qatar–Philippines$441 million · 0.69%

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$26.6 billion · 41.7%
  2. Crude petroleum$18.9 billion · 29.6%
  3. Refined petroleum$7.6 billion · 11.9%
  4. Cars$1.6 billion · 2.5%
  5. Unwrought aluminum$710 million · 1.1%
  6. Polyethylene$679 million · 1.1%
  7. Nitrogen fertilizers$436 million · 0.68%
  8. Seamless steel pipes$322 million · 0.51%
  9. Water heaters and industrial dryers$316 million · 0.49%
  10. Aluminum oxide and hydroxide$262 million · 0.41%

Reference ports

Hamad Port (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