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

In 2024, an estimated $5.9 billion of Uruguay’s trade passed through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, 33.8% of its seaborne trade. That is $3 billion of exports and $2.9 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, South Korea and Thailand.

Summary

Estimated value
$5.9billion
Of its seaborne trade
33.8%
Exports
$3billion
Imports
$2.9billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Uruguay’s estimated trade through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore rose 34% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Uruguay 5.9

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$503 million16.1%
1996$588 million15.6%
1997$620 million16%
1998$572 million14.7%
1999$477 million13.3%
2000$563 million15.4%
2001$495 million14.5%
2002$370 million13%
2003$444 million12.6%
2004$614 million12%
2005$805 million13.1%
2006$989 million14.3%
2007$1.2 billion15.6%
2008$1.8 billion16.8%
2009$1.7 billion19.9%
2010$2.4 billion21.9%
2011$3.1 billion23.6%
2012$3.5 billion23.5%
2013$4.5 billion30.3%
2014$4.4 billion30.9%
2015$4 billion31.5%
2016$3.4 billion29.5%
2017$4.2 billion32.7%
2018$4.2 billion30.5%
2019$4.4 billion35.2%
2020$3.6 billion31.4%
2021$5.6 billion35.1%
2022$6 billion32%
2023$5.1 billion30.1%
2024$5.9 billion33.8%

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. Uruguay–China$5 billion · 85.3%
  2. Uruguay–South Korea$323 million · 5.5%
  3. Uruguay–Thailand$165 million · 2.8%
  4. Uruguay–Japan$125 million · 2.1%
  5. Uruguay–Vietnam$102 million · 1.7%
  6. Uruguay–Singapore$61 million · 1%
  7. Uruguay–Taiwan$48 million · 0.81%
  8. Uruguay–Hong Kong$42 million · 0.7%
  9. Uruguay–Malaysia$6 million · 0.1%

What crosses it

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

  1. Chemical wood pulp$1.2 billion · 20.5%
  2. Frozen beef$657 million · 11.1%
  3. Soybeans$350 million · 5.9%
  4. Cars$184 million · 3.1%
  5. Auto parts$166 million · 2.8%
  6. Edible offal$146 million · 2.5%
  7. Tanned cattle hides$145 million · 2.5%
  8. Polyethers, polyesters and epoxy resins$114 million · 1.9%
  9. Air conditioners$94 million · 1.6%
  10. Pesticides and herbicides$94 million · 1.6%

Reference ports

Montevideo (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