globaltraffic.earth

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

In 2024, an estimated $83.8 billion of Taiwan’s trade passed through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, 27.7% of its seaborne trade. That is $33.3 billion of exports and $50.5 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are Saudi Arabia, Germany and Malaysia.

Summary

Estimated value
$83.8billion
Of its seaborne trade
27.7%
Exports
$33.3billion
Imports
$50.5billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Taiwan’s estimated trade through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore in 2024 was about the same as in 2019

Value in USD billions

  • Taiwan 83.8

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$28.9 billion19%
1996$30.2 billion20.2%
1997$36.2 billion24.5%
1998$34.3 billion25.7%
1999$35.4 billion26.1%
2000$44.9 billion28.5%
2001$38.4 billion27.9%
2002$38.1 billion26.4%
2003$46 billion28.4%
2004$57.6 billion28.6%
2005$63.3 billion28.3%
2006$74.8 billion30.6%
2007$86.1 billion32.2%
2008$107 billion35.1%
2009$71.2 billion32.4%
2010$97.9 billion33.6%
2011$114 billion33.7%
2012$116.8 billion33.5%
2013$117.5 billion33.5%
2014$82.2 billion28.7%
2015$87 billion31.9%
2016$79.2 billion31.4%
2017$85.6 billion30.4%
2018$93.9 billion30.4%
2019$83.5 billion28.9%
2020$73.8 billion27.8%
2021$105.7 billion29.2%
2022$121.3 billion30.7%
2023$88.2 billion28.9%
2024$83.8 billion27.7%

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. Taiwan–Saudi Arabia$9.6 billion · 11.5%
  2. Taiwan–Germany$8.4 billion · 10%
  3. Taiwan–Malaysia$6.8 billion · 8.1%
  4. Taiwan–India$5.4 billion · 6.4%
  5. Taiwan–United Arab Emirates$5.1 billion · 6.1%
  6. Taiwan–Qatar$4.2 billion · 5%
  7. Taiwan–Russia$3.6 billion · 4.3%
  8. Taiwan–Kuwait$3.5 billion · 4.2%
  9. Taiwan–Brazil$3.3 billion · 4%
  10. Taiwan–United Kingdom$3 billion · 3.6%

What crosses it

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

  1. Crude petroleum$16.7 billion · 20%
  2. Refined petroleum$5.7 billion · 6.8%
  3. Cars$4.9 billion · 5.9%
  4. Natural gas and LPG$4.4 billion · 5.3%
  5. Screws, bolts and nuts$2.1 billion · 2.5%
  6. Auto parts$1.3 billion · 1.6%
  7. Coal$1.3 billion · 1.6%
  8. Hot-rolled flat steel$1.1 billion · 1.3%
  9. Unwrought aluminum$925 million · 1.1%
  10. Stainless steel sheet$907 million · 1.1%

Reference ports

Kaohsiung (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