Fares Braizat

Jordan’s economic story should not be defined only by what it lacks, but by how effectively it develops what it has. Scarce water, limited energy resources, and a difficult regional environment are real constraints. Yet Jordan also possesses strategic assets that can be transformed into engines of growth when they are managed with ambition, discipline, and professional competence. Mining is one of them.

The Arab Potash Company provides one of the clearest examples of what happens when a national resource is treated not simply as a source of revenue, but as a platform for exports, industrial growth, foreign-currency generation, and long-term national value.

For years, Arab Potash was a successful company by Jordanian standards, but it was operating below the full potential of the resource available to it. Its strategy concentrated largely on selected markets and cost control rather than a more ambitious model built around growth, operational efficiency, market diversification, and global competitiveness.

That began to change decisively around 2019 and 2020. The Company’s transformation was not merely the result of favourable international potash prices. Commodity prices rise and fall. The more important achievement was structural: increased production, new products, stronger product quality, new markets, improved efficiency, and investment in future capacity.

Before this shift, Arab Potash produced approximately 2.3 to 2.4 million tonnes of potash annually. By 2025, according to the Company’s published data, production had risen to nearly 2.9 million tonnes, an increase of around 23 percent.

This matters because it represents real additional output for Jordan’s economy. Around half a million tonnes of extra potash production have been added annually. That is not simply a financial gain on paper. It is a Jordanian resource, processed through Jordanian industry, exported through Jordanian infrastructure, and converted into national income.

The benefits extend beyond Company profits. Additional production contributes to exports, foreign-currency inflows, government revenues, shareholder returns, and employment across the value chain. The Treasury benefits through income tax, mining royalties, concession fees, port charges, loading charges, and dividends generated through public-sector shareholding.

Between 2020 and 2025, Arab Potash’s payments to the Jordanian Treasury reached around JD1.3 billion. During the same period, the Company and its subsidiaries and affiliates contributed more than USD9 billion in foreign currency to the Kingdom. At a time when Jordan must continue strengthening exports and its balance-of-payments position, this underlines why mining should be treated as a strategic economic sector rather than a legacy industry.

Arab Potash has also transformed its market presence. Historically, the Company’s sales were concentrated in regional markets and parts of East and Southeast Asia. Since 2019, it has expanded into Europe, Brazil, Australia, Thailand, and other demanding markets.

This is important not only because of geography, but because these are highly competitive markets. European and Brazilian buyers require consistent quality, reliable supply, technical compliance, and confidence in long-term delivery. Winning business there requires more than access to a resource. It requires operational credibility, innovative logistical arrangements, and consistent visionary leadership.

Arab Potash’s sales in Europe rose from less than 75,000 tonnes in 2019 to approximately 580,000 tonnes in 2025. Its entry into Brazil is equally important. Brazil is one of the world’s largest potash-importing markets, and Arab Potash established sales there in the range of 220,000 to 300,000 tonnes annually in recent years. This reflects a company that has moved beyond simply selling a product, it is becoming a strategic supplier to global agricultural markets and a major player in global food security.

The next phase may be even more consequential. The Eastern Expansion Project is expected to add approximately 120,000 tonnes of annual production capacity. More significantly, the Southern Expansion Project, the largest in the Company’s history, is expected to add around 740,000 tonnes once completed around 2030.

Together with efficiency projects and other planned investments, Arab Potash is working towards production of around four million tonnes annually in the years ahead. That would represent nearly double the Company’s average annual production during the 2015–2019 period. Such growth would not simply enlarge one company. It would enlarge Jordan’s productive economy.

The Company is also addressing two of Jordan’s most difficult industrial constraints: energy and water. It has invested in projects intended to secure future energy requirements, reduce production costs, and improve international competitiveness. It has also worked to secure the substantial water needs required to support expansion.

Its ambitions extend beyond raw potash. Investments in Jordan Bromine Company, specialised derivatives, downstream fertiliser products, and possible international mining opportunities point towards a more sophisticated model: one in which Jordan does not merely extract resources, but develops higher-value industrial ecosystems around them.

This is the broader lesson. Mining is not simply about extracting minerals from the ground or the sea. It is about geology, but also strategic planning, vertical and horizontal integrations, infrastructure, energy, water management, scientific research, skilled labour, capital investment, export logistics, international partnerships, and corporate governance.

Arab Potash’s transformation is therefore not only a corporate success story. It is a case study in how Jordan can turn a finite natural resource into a long-term productive national asset.

Its most important achievement may be in uplifting work culture. Professional management aligned workers, engineers, unions, technical teams, and executives behind a shared strategyand common values. It created a stronger sense of responsibility for performance, productivity, and competitiveness. Arab Potash increasingly thinks and operates like an international industrial company rather than a locally bounded enterprise.

Jordan needs more examples of this kind of transformation. Tourism, technology, logistics, agriculture, renewable energy, manufacturing, and financial services all have important roles in the country’s future. But mining deserves greater attention as a pillar of economic resilience and export growth.

Arab Potash demonstrates that Jordan can create more value from what it already possesses. The task now is to apply the same seriousness, ambition, and professional discipline to other promising sectors.