Ammon News - Sea freight rates for goods coming to the Kingdom from China and the Far East countries have seen a significant drop, vice president of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Nabil Khatib said, expecting that such decline will reflect on the prices of imported items to the local market within two months.

Khatib told the Jordan News Agency (Petra) on Wednesday that the shipping rate of of a 40-cubic-feet container from Shanghai to the port of Aqaba decreased to $7,500 a week ago compared to about $10,000 last month.

"Another drop in sea freight rates is forecast due to the shortage of commodities from China," he added, stressing that this decrease will negatively affect the Kingdom's exports due to a shortage of containers that will go to some countries.

Jordan annually imports about 500,000 TEUs, compared to 120,000 in exports.

(Petra)