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

In 2024, an estimated $6.4 billion of Zambia’s trade passed through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, 31.1% of its seaborne trade. That is $3.4 billion of exports and $3.1 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, Singapore and Japan.

Summary

Estimated value
$6.4billion
Of its seaborne trade
31.1%
Exports
$3.4billion
Imports
$3.1billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Zambia’s estimated trade through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore rose 64% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Zambia 6.4

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$507 million28.2%
1996$393 million22%
1997$422 million21.5%
1998$250 million16.2%
1999$220 million15.1%
2000$274 million19.1%
2001$305 million15.1%
2002$315 million14.9%
2003$331 million15.1%
2004$648 million20.4%
2005$997 million22.7%
2006$1.6 billion23.2%
2007$1.9 billion22.7%
2008$1.6 billion16.5%
2009$2.4 billion28.2%
2010$4.2 billion33.9%
2011$5.3 billion31.7%
2012$5.3 billion29.1%
2013$4.7 billion26.1%
2014$6.2 billion31.9%
2015$4.4 billion31.1%
2016$4 billion31.4%
2017$5.6 billion34.7%
2018$4.4 billion27.4%
2019$3.9 billion30.1%
2020$3.7 billion31.4%
2021$5.3 billion32.2%
2022$6.5 billion34.8%
2023$5.8 billion29.5%
2024$6.4 billion31.1%

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. Zambia–China$4.9 billion · 76.6%
  2. Zambia–Singapore$653 million · 10.2%
  3. Zambia–Japan$460 million · 7.2%
  4. Zambia–Hong Kong$165 million · 2.6%
  5. Zambia–South Korea$75 million · 1.2%
  6. Zambia–Taiwan$70 million · 1.1%
  7. Zambia–Thailand$36 million · 0.56%
  8. Zambia–Vietnam$19 million · 0.29%
  9. Zambia–Russia$11 million · 0.16%
  10. Zambia–Malaysia$7 million · 0.11%

What crosses it

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

  1. Unrefined copper$2.1 billion · 32.3%
  2. Refined copper$818 million · 12.8%
  3. Refined petroleum$439 million · 6.8%
  4. Trucks$236 million · 3.7%
  5. Cars$165 million · 2.6%
  6. Sorting and crushing machines$146 million · 2.3%
  7. Tractors$140 million · 2.2%
  8. Raw tobacco$112 million · 1.7%
  9. Bulldozers and excavators$108 million · 1.7%
  10. Nickel ore$102 million · 1.6%

Reference ports

Durban (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