AMMAN
— Official data released by the
Jordan Chamber of Industry shows the value of
exports during 2021 reached about JD5.5 billion, a 20 percent increase over
2020.
اضافة اعلان
During
a dialogue on the export strategy for the years 2022-2023, organized in
coordination with the
Amman Chamber of Industry on Saturday, its head, Fathi Al-Jaghbeer,
said that Jordan’s industrial exports have grown by nearly JD900 million, more
than 20 percent during 2021, compared to 2019.
Jaghbeer
said that this is to the credit of the
Jordanian industry, which continued producing,
while many other fields stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jaghbeer
said that the Jordanian industry had proved its ability to work despite the
difficult circumstances, adding that Jordan was able to continue exporting to
China and the US.
"Before
the pandemic, we used to manufacture 50,000 face masks, today we manufacture 6
million face masks, and we export them to all parts of the world," he
said.
Jaghbeer
emphasized that this reliance on the local product helped Jordan survive while
other countries fell apart.
Economist
Mazen Irsheid told
Jordan News that despite the numbers that appear in
official data, exports still constitute a third of Jordan's imports.
"There
is a rise in exports, indeed, but this slight increase should not make us
forget the challenges and obstacles that exist in the Jordanian industry."
Irsheid
stressed that the biggest obstacle is the high manufacturing costs, caused by
the energy bill for factories, including for industrial fuel, car fuel, air,
and sea freight fuel, which are all part of the manufacturing process and
reduce its growth percentage significantly.
Irsheid
said the
government needs to seek to improve the state of Jordanian industries.
One way to do this is to establish a free industrial zone on the
Jordanian-Iraqi border, an issue that was discussed during visits by
officials of the two countries over the past two years, but whose implementation
is slow.
Irsheid
said that such a project would support Jordanians industries and exports, as it
would entail customs exemptions and tax advantages and would play a significant
role in encouraging foreign investments.
“Jordan
had benefited greatly from Iraq throughout history. And there is another
project now that has not been worked on yet, which is to extend oil pipelines
from Basra through Jordan to
Aqaba,” Irsheid said, adding that this
project is still being an item of talks between the two countries, ten years
one, but there is no actual implementation.
If
implemented, however, "we will be able to get oil at preferential prices
from Iraq and see a huge qualitative leap in the value of Jordan's exports",
he said.
In a
telephone interview with board member at the Amman Chamber of
Industry Mousa Al-Saket, talking about the increase in the value of Jordanian exports,
he said: "We do not look at the overall picture. Despite the rise in
exports in 2021 by 18.3 percent, imports increased by 23 percent, which
affected the balance of trade and led to a more significant deficit.”
He also
says that the mentioned growth is slight, and comparing the
GDP with the growth
of exports, there has been no significant increase during the past ten years.
"In
2010 to 2022, exports ranged between JD4.7 billion and JD5.4 billion, so there
is no significant growth," he said.
Saket
also said that the high manufacturing and production costs are the reason Jordanian
producers have less of an opportunity to compete with in the global market.
Industrialist
Ihab Al-Shorafa said that the Jordanian industry had reached the stage where it
is a sufficient resource for the economy, as it covers the domestic needs and
is able to export to multiple global markets, due to “the quality of the
Jordanian product”.
Shorafa
also spoke of several challenges faced by industrialists, mainly the high
manufacturing costs and the lack of government support, unlike in some neighboring
countries where industrialists enjoy many exemptions and state support.
"Despite
that, we always strive to improve the Jordanian industry by raising the level
of products that are required all over the world," said Shorafa.
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