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

In 2024, an estimated $4.3 billion of Zimbabwe’s trade passed through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, 56.8% of its seaborne trade. That is $2.3 billion of exports and $2 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are China, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Summary

Estimated value
$4.3billion
Of its seaborne trade
56.8%
Exports
$2.3billion
Imports
$2billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

Zimbabwe’s estimated trade through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore rose 71% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • Zimbabwe 4.3

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$575 million21.5%
1996$481 million22.8%
1997$626 million25.5%
1998$435 million22.9%
1999$434 million22.1%
2000$536 million27.1%
2001$422 million23.5%
2002$415 million21.1%
2003$435 million23.2%
2004$600 million26.8%
2005$518 million23.1%
2006$460 million14.9%
2007$525 million25.5%
2008$542 million31.4%
2009$372 million21.7%
2010$828 million24.1%
2011$1 billion24.5%
2012$1 billion24.4%
2013$1.2 billion29.4%
2014$2.4 billion57.6%
2015$2.6 billion63.2%
2016$2.2 billion60.6%
2017$2.4 billion63.6%
2018$2.9 billion59.8%
2019$2.5 billion63.2%
2020$2.2 billion58.4%
2021$2.9 billion61.2%
2022$3.5 billion59.4%
2023$3.9 billion53.2%
2024$4.3 billion56.8%

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. Zimbabwe–China$3.4 billion · 79%
  2. Zimbabwe–Singapore$338 million · 7.8%
  3. Zimbabwe–Hong Kong$214 million · 5%
  4. Zimbabwe–Japan$121 million · 2.8%
  5. Zimbabwe–Thailand$99 million · 2.3%
  6. Zimbabwe–Vietnam$72 million · 1.7%
  7. Zimbabwe–South Korea$28 million · 0.65%
  8. Zimbabwe–Taiwan$10 million · 0.23%
  9. Zimbabwe–Russia$10 million · 0.23%
  10. Zimbabwe–Cambodia$5 million · 0.12%

What crosses it

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

  1. Raw tobacco$835 million · 19.4%
  2. Other minerals$554 million · 12.8%
  3. Ferroalloys$343 million · 7.9%
  4. Refined petroleum$276 million · 6.4%
  5. Other ores$248 million · 5.7%
  6. Chromium ore$236 million · 5.5%
  7. Trucks$136 million · 3.2%
  8. Rice$101 million · 2.4%
  9. Sorting and crushing machines$61 million · 1.4%
  10. Cars$52 million · 1.2%

Reference ports

Beira (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