Foreign trade figures show that 6 industrial commodities accounted for 60% of the value of national exports, and 4 economic blocs accounted for 90% of total national exports during the first third of this year. According to foreign trade figures issued by the Department of Statistics, the six commodities were clothing and accessories, chemical fertilizers, precious jewelry, pharmaceutical preparations, raw phosphates, and raw potash. The blocs are represented by four groups: the countries of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area, the countries of the North American Free Trade Agreement, non-Arab Asian countries, and the European Union countries.
The President of the Amman and Jordan Chambers of Industry, Engineer Fathi Al-Jaghbeer, explained that "for years, national exports have suffered from weakness and lack of commodity and geographical diversity, with a clear concentration at the level of commodities and countries, despite the great and available opportunities to diversify the goods and countries that their diverse national products reach. According to studies by the International Trade Center - Export Potential Map - Jordan has untapped export opportunities to many global markets estimated at about $4.4 billion, from various Jordanian industrial products and under the same existing volume of production."
Al-Jaghbeer explained that the reasons for the concentration of exports, whether in terms of products or markets, are due to a number of reasons, including high production costs, which reach more than 25% compared to countries in the region, which hinders the competitiveness of the national product and its ability to enhance its position in global markets, especially since some sub-industrial sectors are energy-intensive and are considered a main production input, which affects their competitiveness and limits their ability to export.
He pointed to other reasons related to the weak utilization of some trade agreements due to some obstacles and technical requirements of the receiving countries and their imposition of conditions that we do not reciprocate, not to mention the weak networking and marketing and promotion operations within those global markets despite the quality and efficiency of the Jordanian product compared to other global products.
He indicated that weak networking within many emerging markets that contain export opportunities and promises, and high shipping costs, hinder the ability of national products to compete and reserve a place for them in non-traditional markets, in addition to some neighboring countries hindering the entry of national products into their markets by imposing non-tariff administrative restrictions and procedures.
He stressed that diversifying national exports in terms of commodities and geography, exploiting available export opportunities, and achieving the targets of the Economic Modernization Vision by doubling the value of exports during the next ten years at an annual growth rate of more than 7% annually requires working to remove many obstacles and implement procedures, foremost of which is reducing production costs, especially energy costs. In this regard, it is necessary to accelerate the extension of industrial cities with gas, which enhances the competitiveness of industrial products locally and in foreign markets.
He pointed to the need to raise export capabilities by implementing a set of measures to take advantage of the untapped export opportunities that Jordanian products have in global markets, including, for example; activating and approving the national tracking system for agricultural and food products, which have several opportunities in foreign markets, especially in European and American markets.
He stressed the need to apply the principle of reciprocity with countries that impose restrictions on national products, and to implement some of the requirements that were included in the export strategy whose implementation plan for the current year was recently launched, which aims to ensure the achievement of commodity and geographical diversity of national exports and increase export growth.
Al-Jaghbeer pointed to the necessity of ensuring the implementation of national strategies concerned with export and investment and the initiatives mentioned within the Economic Modernization Vision, which would raise export capabilities and increase the flow of investments, allocate and direct capabilities and potentials in the required manner, which will focus on raising the level of growth of industrial exports and maintaining their required momentum.

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