DAMASCUS: Farm exports in Jordan showed substantial growth in 2014, aided by foreign sales of vegetables, while deals with new markets and key investments in water irrigation are strengthening growth potential for future years.
Jordan’s fruit and vegetable exports increased 12% year-on-year in 2014, according to official data, with the country exporting 888,000 tonnes of agricultural produce in 2014, compared to 790,000 tonnes in 2013. A total of 85% of agricultural exports were vegetables, 50% of which were tomatoes. According to a spokesperson at the agriculture ministry, produce exports are projected to increase further in 2015 to reach 1m tonnes.
Exports of agricultural goods, food and beverages for the first three quarters of 2014 were up 9.8% to JD793.4m ($1.1bn), ahead of overall export growth of 8.6%, according to the Department of Statistics (DoS). The increase was driven in part by a 35% rise in the value of vegetable exports to JD316.1m ($445.7m) which the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) attributed to farmers exporting higher-value crops.
Farming is a significant contributor to Jordan’s overall export profile, accounting for around 20% of merchandise exports in 2013 according to World Trade Organisation data. However, exporting farmers have faced a number of challenges in recent years, most notably the conflict in Syria, which has seen Jordanian agricultural exports to the country fall by around 25% as well as disrupting overland exports to other markets.
In order to boost foreign sales, the authorities are seeking new markets for Jordanian produce, much of which goes to Arab countries at present with Syria and the Gulf states consuming around 80% of fruit and vegetable exports.
Over the past year, Jordan has targeted Russia as a potential market by seeking an exemption from high import tariffs. Negotiations came to fruition in November, when the two countries inked a deal that will see Russia reduce its import duties on produce from the Kingdom by 25% in the summer and to exempt it entirely from such duties in the winter.
At the end of December, Agriculture Minister Akef Zu’bi noted that exports to Iraq had improved following negotiations with the Iraqi government, which recently agreed to reduce the fees collected from each Jordanian truck entering Iraq from $2,200 to $700.
