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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Jordan Strategy Forum (JSF) on Wednesday published a detailed report on Jordan’s trade with the European Union (EU) countries. It stated that the contents of the report in general, and the database in particular, can help and support those companies and industries that aim to reach out the EU market. The report details exports, imports and re-exports between Jordan and each country within the EU, and classifies them into 20 industrial sectors.

The report explained that Jordan’s exports to the EU totaled JD 120 million in 2015, and this amounts to only 2.5% of total exports. Jordanian imports from the EU, on the other hand, were around JD 3100 million JDs. These figures indicate the extent of the trade deficit between Jordan and the European continent.

According to the document, Italy topped the list of European countries importing from Jordan (JD 33.7 million), followed by the Netherlands (JD 21.4 million), United Kingdom (JD 17.7 million), Bulgaria (JD11.7 million), Spain (JD 11.1 million) and Germany (JD 6.9 million).

Latvia, Finland, the Czech Republic, Estonia were among the least EU-importing countries from Jordan. Their imports amounted to JD 17,000, JD 29,000, JD 70,000, and JD 80,000 respectively. The JSF considers these countries (as well as other countries to whom Jordan does not export) as markets with good opportunities, especially after the "Relaxing Rules of Origin" agreement that took effect in July 2016.

In the report, it is shown that the "Chemical Products" sector was the largest in terms of export value (JD 36 million or 30% of the total exports to the EU). This sector is then followed by "Textiles" (JD 27 million or 22% of the total exports), "Precious Metals" (JD 18.5 million), "Vegetable Products" (JD 14 million). The least exported sectors to the EU countries were "Arts & Antiques" (JD 10,000) and "Paper Goods" (JD 27,000).

JSF stressed that there are many opportunities for Jordanian exports to the EU countries, as reaching out any one country means the ability to reach out the rest of the continent in terms of product quality, acceptance and possibly its competitiveness.

It also detailed the "Sophistication" level for each sector. This factor is imperative in identifying "high value" exported products from Jordan. In other words, taking in to account the sophistication for such products would add to the "complexity" of the Jordanian economy.

Within this context, it must be noted that, using the theory of Economic Complexity issued by Harvard and MIT, the JSF previously published "Jordan’s Product Space Study" in which it specified the sophistication level of each product exported by Jordan. The study also pointed out the importance of adopting an industrial policy in Jordan to promote exports with high sophistication levels, which in turn, will lead to stronger increases in real GDP and prosperity of the Jordanian economy at large.

The report, which relied on the latest available data (2015) published by the UN COMTRADE and Department of Statistics, aims at increasing knowledge about trade opportunities with the EU as well as with the rest of the world. The report is published under "Knowledge is Power" series.