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

In 2024, an estimated $3.6 billion of Uganda’s trade passed through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, 32.8% of its seaborne trade. That is $292 million of exports and $3.3 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, Japan and South Korea.

Summary

Estimated value
$3.6billion
Of its seaborne trade
32.8%
Exports
$292million
Imports
$3.3billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Uganda’s estimated trade through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore rose 107% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Uganda 3.6

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$213 million15.5%
1996$231 million15.9%
1997$177 million13.6%
1998$236 million17.8%
1999$212 million18.2%
2000$211 million21.2%
2001$238 million22.2%
2002$253 million20.7%
2003$302 million21.1%
2004$396 million22.6%
2005$437 million21.5%
2006$552 million20.8%
2007$783 million22.5%
2008$988 million21.9%
2009$956 million22.5%
2010$1.1 billion23.2%
2011$1.4 billion24.2%
2012$1.4 billion22.5%
2013$1.4 billion24.8%
2014$1.6 billion26.3%
2015$1.5 billion27.5%
2016$1.4 billion27.9%
2017$1.6 billion27.2%
2018$1.8 billion27%
2019$1.7 billion27.8%
2020$1.9 billion31.5%
2021$2.1 billion28.4%
2022$2.6 billion28.5%
2023$3.2 billion31.8%
2024$3.6 billion32.8%

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. Uganda–China$2.6 billion · 71.8%
  2. Uganda–Japan$469 million · 13.1%
  3. Uganda–South Korea$100 million · 2.8%
  4. Uganda–Singapore$90 million · 2.5%
  5. Uganda–Thailand$73 million · 2%
  6. Uganda–Malaysia$62 million · 1.7%
  7. Uganda–Russia$62 million · 1.7%
  8. Uganda–United States$57 million · 1.6%
  9. Uganda–Vietnam$57 million · 1.6%
  10. Uganda–Taiwan$18 million · 0.51%

What crosses it

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

  1. Cars$269 million · 7.5%
  2. Hot-rolled flat steel$214 million · 6%
  3. Polyethers, polyesters and epoxy resins$137 million · 3.8%
  4. Trucks$114 million · 3.2%
  5. Coffee$102 million · 2.9%
  6. Cocoa beans$80 million · 2.2%
  7. Bulldozers and excavators$74 million · 2.1%
  8. Used clothing$60 million · 1.7%
  9. Pesticides and herbicides$57 million · 1.6%
  10. Alloy steel sheet$54 million · 1.5%

Reference ports

Mombasa (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