That dollar amount results from a 51.4% increase over the five-year period starting five years earlier in 2019 when Jordan’s overall exports were $8.3 billion.
Year over year, total exports from Jordan flatlined via a -1.5% drop compared to $12.8 billion starting from 2022.
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 jewelry. Collectively, that set of 5 major exported goods generated almost half (42%) of all payments received for all of Jordan’s exports during 2023.
Best Customers for Jordanian Exports
The latest available country-specific data shows that 72.8% of products exported from Jordan was bought by importers in: United States of America (22.9% of the Jordanian total), India (13.7%), Saudi Arabia (11.5%), Iraq (7.5%), United Arab Emirates (4.3%), mainland China (2.8%), Palestine (2.7%), Egypt (1.8%), Indonesia (1.51%), Kuwait (1.49%), Qatar (1.3%) and Switzerland (1.2%).
From a continental perspective, 58.9% of Jordan’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 26% was sold to importers in North America. Jordan shipped another 7.6% worth of goods to Europe, with 5.7% going to buyers in Africa.
Smaller percentages went to Latin America (1.1%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.7%) Australia and New Zealand only.
Given Jordan’s population of 10.31 million people, its total $12.6 billion in 2023 exports translates to roughly $1,220 for each resident in the Western Asian nation. That dollar metric exceeds the average $850 per capita one year earlier during 2022.
Jordan’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Jordanian global shipments during 2023. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Jordan.
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: US$1.9 billion (14.9% of total exports)
- Inorganic chemicals: $1.5 billion (12%)
- Fertilizers: $1.45 billion (11.5%)
- Gems, precious metals: $1.2 billion (9.6%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $1 billion (8%)
- Pharmaceuticals: $773.8 million (6.1%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $331.6 million (2.6%)
- Soaps, washing preparations, lubricants, waxes: $307.3 million (2.4%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $299.1 million (2.4%)
- Vegetables: $265.9 million (2.1%)
Jordan’s top 10 exports accounted for 71.7% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Gems and precious metals was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 67.4% from 2022 to 2023. That product category was propelled by higher revenues from exported Jordanian gold and jewelry.
In second place for improving export sales was vegetables via a 40.8% advance.
Jordan’s shipments of soaps, washing preparations, lubricants and waxes posted the third-fastest gain, up by 34.1%.
The leading decliner among Jordan’s top 10 export categories was fertilizers, pulled down by a -38.3% 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 2023 were miscellaneous knitted or crocheted garments (14.8% of the country’s total exports revenues) trailed by potassic fertilizers (7.3%), natural calcium or aluminum phosphates (6.7%), phosphoric or polyphosphoric acids (6.6%), jewelry (6.5%), medication mixes (4.9%), unwrought gold (3.1%), nitrogenous fertilizers (2.9%), chlorides, bromides and iodides (2.7%), then miscellaneous organic cleaning preparations (2.4%).
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.
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: US$1.5 billion (Down by -13.8% since 2022)
- Fertilizers: $1.4 billion (Down by -39.7%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $1.2 billion (Up by 29.1%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $792.7 million (Down by -22.5%)
- Vegetables: $170.9 million (Up by 95.2%)
- Soaps, washing preparations, lubricants, waxes: $142.8 million (Up by 124.2%)
- Textile floor coverings: $30 million (Up by 17.1%)
- Lead: $15 million (Up by 14.5%)
- Milling products, malt, starches: $4.5 million (Down by -68.1%)
- Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $1.7 million (Down by -7.5%)
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 -US$13.1 billion trade deficit for 2023, reducing by -10.1% from -$14.6 billion in red ink one year earlier during 2022.
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$3.3 billion (Down by -16.5% since 2022)
- Vehicles: -$2.2 billion (Up by 45.6%)
- Machinery including computers: -$1.3 billion (Up by 9.1%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$1 billion (Up by 18.1%)
- Cereals: -$976.8 million (Down by -29.7%)
- Knit or crochet fabric: -$644.7 million (Down by -16.5%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$534.5 million (Down by -13.5%)
- Gems, precious metals: -$526.2 million (Down by -68.6%)
- Iron, steel: -$511.5 million (Down by -15.3%)
- Organic chemicals: -$475.5 million (Down by -2.8%)
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 9.5% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2023 ($132.1 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 9.5% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2023 compares to 7% for 2022. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing 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 21.4% at the end of 2023, down from an average 22.9% one year earlier in 2022 according to Trading Economics metrics.
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 August 28, 2024
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on August 28, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on August 28, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on August 28, 2024
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on August 28, 2024
Wikipedia, Jordan. Accessed on August 28, 2024
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Jordan. Accessed on August 28, 2024
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on August 28, 2024