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

In 2024, an estimated $3 billion of Yemen’s trade passed through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, 37.3% of its seaborne trade. That is $92 million of exports and $2.9 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, Thailand and Japan.

Summary

Estimated value
$3billion
Of its seaborne trade
37.3%
Exports
$92million
Imports
$2.9billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

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

Value in USD billions

  • Yemen 3

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$1.8 billion55%
1996$2.1 billion56.6%
1997$2.2 billion55.6%
1998$1.7 billion52.2%
1999$2.1 billion56.7%
2000$2.9 billion57.5%
2001$2.5 billion54.2%
2002$2.4 billion50.9%
2003$3.8 billion67.3%
2004$4.5 billion49.8%
2005$5.5 billion46.2%
2006$6.1 billion40.2%
2007$6.1 billion36.2%
2008$9 billion42.9%
2009$4.9 billion32.3%
2010$6.5 billion36.1%
2011$8.6 billion44.1%
2012$9.7 billion46.3%
2013$10.3 billion48.2%
2014$9.7 billion48.7%
2015$3.6 billion37.4%
2016$2.3 billion36.4%
2017$2.9 billion37.1%
2018$2.8 billion33.2%
2019$3.9 billion34.7%
2020$4.3 billion39.4%
2021$4.1 billion35.2%
2022$4.3 billion35.1%
2023$3.2 billion30.3%
2024$3 billion37.3%

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. Yemen–China$2.5 billion · 81.9%
  2. Yemen–Thailand$257 million · 8.5%
  3. Yemen–Japan$133 million · 4.4%
  4. Yemen–South Korea$89 million · 3%
  5. Yemen–Malaysia$24 million · 0.8%
  6. Yemen–New Zealand$16 million · 0.53%
  7. Yemen–Singapore$9 million · 0.31%
  8. Yemen–Taiwan$9 million · 0.31%
  9. Yemen–Hong Kong$7 million · 0.24%
  10. Yemen–Canada$549 thousand · 0.02%

What crosses it

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

  1. Synthetic filament fabric$157 million · 5.2%
  2. Cars$113 million · 3.8%
  3. Rice$113 million · 3.7%
  4. Rubber and plastic footwear$109 million · 3.6%
  5. Auto parts$86 million · 2.9%
  6. Diodes, transistors and solar cells$69 million · 2.3%
  7. Women's knitted suits and dresses$67 million · 2.2%
  8. Coated flat steel$64 million · 2.1%
  9. New tires$52 million · 1.7%
  10. Motorcycles$52 million · 1.7%

Reference ports

Ras Isa Terminal (44%) and Aden (56%)

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