That dollar amount results from a 13.4% increase over the five-year period starting in 2018 when Jordan’s overall exports were $7.75 billion.
Year over year, total exports from Jordan fell by -6.1% compared to $9.36 billion for 2021.
Jordan’s legal currency is the Jordanian dinar which is pegged to the American dollar.
The top 5 most valuable exports from Jordan are miscellaneous knitted or crocheted garments, potassic fertilizers, natural calcium or aluminum phosphates, phosphoric or polyphosphoric acids, then nitrogenous fertilizers. Collectively, that set of 5 major exported goods generated almost half (48.2%) of all payments received for all of Jordan’s exports during 2022.
Best Customers for Jordanian Exports
The latest available country-specific data shows that 68.8% of products exported from Jordan was bought by importers in: United States of America (20% of Jordan’s total), India (14.6%), Saudi Arabia (9.9%), Iraq (7.5%), Indonesia (2.74%), United Arab Emirates (2.71%), Palestine (2.4%), Egypt (2.3%), mainland China (2.2%), Brazil (1.7%), Bangladesh (1.5%) and the Netherlands (1.4%).
From a continental perspective, 60.9% of Jordan’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 22.9% was sold to importers in North America. Jordan shipped another 6.6% worth of goods to Africa, 6.5% going to buyers in Europe (6.5%).
Smaller percentages went to Latin America (2.2%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (1%) led by Australia.
Given Jordan’s population of 10.3 million people, its total $8.8 billion in 2022 exports translates to roughly $850 for each resident in the Western Asian nation. That dollar metric exceeds the average $830 per capita one year earlier during 2021.
Jordan’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Jordanian global shipments during 2022. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Jordan.
- Fertilizers: US$1.7 billion (19% of total exports)
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: $1.5 billion (17.2%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $906.4 million (10.3%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $834.3 million (9.5%)
- Pharmaceuticals: $456.5 million (5.2%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $265.7 million (3%)
- Gems, precious metals: $231.4 million (2.6%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $225 million (2.6%)
- Aluminum: $201.1 million (2.3%)
- Machinery including computers: $172.8 million (2%)
Jordan’s top 10 exports accounted for 73.6% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Salt, sulphur, stone and cement was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 36% from 2021 to 2022.
In second place for improving export sales were fertilizers via a 26.3% advance.
Jordan’s shipments of aluminum recorded the third-fastest gain in value, up by 4%.
The leading decliner among Jordan’s top 10 export categories was the pharmaceuticals group, pulled down by a -25.6% year-over-year drop.
The product categories listed above are at the two-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level.
Drilling down to the more granular four-digit HTS codes, Jordan’s most valuable exported products in 2022 were miscellaneous knitted or crocheted garments (17.1% of the country’s total exports revenues) trailed by potassic fertilizers (12%), natural calcium or aluminum phosphates (8.6%), phosphoric or polyphosphoric acids (5.4%), nitrogenous fertilizers (5.1%), medication mixes (4.1%), chlorides, bromides and iodides (3%), jewelry (2.4%), miscellaneous organic cleaning preparations (1.8%), then fertilizer mixes (1.5%).
Products Creating Jordan’s Largest Trade Surpluses
The following types of Jordanian product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Fertilizers: US$1.6 billion (Up by 26.7% since 2021)
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: $1.3 billion (Down by -10.2%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $726 million (Up by 43.4%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $668 million (Down by -11.5%)
- Vegetables: $62.2 million (Down by -45.6%)
- Soaps, washing preparations, lubricants, waxes: $45.2 million (Down by -9%)
- Textile floor coverings: $18.2 million (Down by -14.5%)
- Milling products, malt, starches: $10.1 million (Up by 16%)
- Lead: $9.3 million (Down by -32.6%)
- Aluminum: $9 million (Reversing a -$7.8 million deficit)
Jordan has highly positive net exports in the international trade of knitted or crocheted clothing and accessories. In turn, these cashflows indicate Jordan’s strong competitive advantages under the knit or crochet clothing and accessories product category.
Products Causing Jordan’s Worst Trade Deficits
Jordan incurred an overall -$10.6 billion trade deficit for 2022, reducing by -13.1% from -$12.2 billion in red ink one year earlier during 2021.
Below are exports from Jordan that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Jordan’s goods trail Jordanian importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$2.8 billion (Up by 7.3% since 2020)
- Gems, precious metals: -$1.5 billion (Up by 29.2%)
- Vehicles: -$1.1 billion (Down by -26.3%)
- Cereals: -$986.4 million (Up by 9.2%)
- Machinery including computers: -$856.3 million (Down by -22.7%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$607.3 million (Down by -30.6%)
- Knit or crochet fabric: -$548.3 million (Down by -13.1%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$439 million (Down by -18.6%)
- Iron, steel: -$428.8 million (Up by 42.8%)
- Organic chemicals: -$347.4 million (Up by 3%)
Jordan had highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for processed petroleum oils, crude oil and petroleum gases under the mineral fuels-related product category.
Jordanian Export Companies
One Jordanian corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000, namely Arab Bank.
Wikipedia lists companies from Jordan that engage in international trade. Selected examples are shown below.
- Aqaba Railway Corporation (industrial transportation)
- Arab Bridge Maritime (industrial transportation)
- Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company (oil, gas)
- Jordan Phosphate Mines (chemicals)
- Jordan Steel (basic materials)
- King Hussein International Airport (industrial transportation)
- Queen Alia International Airport (industrial transportation)
In macroeconomic terms, Jordan’s total exported goods represent 7% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2022 ($124.7 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 7% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2022 compares to 7.6% for 2021. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Jordan’s total economic performance, albeit based on a relatively short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Jordan’s unemployment rate averaged 22.833% for 2022, down from an average 24.075% one year earlier in 2021 according to metrics from the International Monetary Fund.
Jordan’s capital city is Amman, historically named Rabbath Ammon meaning the “Capital” or the “King’s Quarters”.
See also America’s Top Trading Partners, India’s Top Trading Partners,Saudi Arabia’s Top 10 Imports,Iraq’s Top Trading Partners and UAE’s Top 10 Exports
Research Sources:
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on June 14, 2023
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on June 14, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on June 14, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on June 14, 2023
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on June 14, 2023
Wikipedia, Jordan. Accessed on June 14, 2023
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Jordan. Accessed on June 14, 2023
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on June 14, 2023
World’s Capital Cities, Capital Facts for Amman, Jordan. Accessed on June 14, 2023