Jordan Times
Monday, June 15, 1998
'Agricultural exports last year register 4% increase from 1996'
AMMAN (Petra) — The Agricultural Marketing Organisation (AMO)
announced Sunday that the amount of fruits and vegetables Jordan exported last year
increased by four per cent over the 1996 figures, with the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
topping the list of importers.
AMO Director General Salem Lawzi said Jordan last year exported nearly 371,000 tonnes of
these agricultural products worth about JD83 million to Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Bahrain,
Saudi Arabia, Oman and Iraq, among other buyers.
Dr. Lawzi said that only 1.3 per cent of the total exports went to non-Arab countries.
As for imports in 1997, Jordan purchased around 100,000 tonnes of fruits and vegetables,
mainly oranges, apples, potatoes, grapes bananas, dates, guavas, lemons and garlic, to
meet local needs, he said.
Dr. Lawzi noted that most of the imports came from the Palestinian self-rule areas,
Lebanon, Turkey, the Philippines, Syria, India, Indonesia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, China,
Iran and the U.S.
In recent years, the AMO has been struggling to open new markets for Jordan's agricultural
products while paying more attention to traditional importers, he added.
But Jordanian products continue to face stiff competition in other markets, which has
encouraged the AMO to ensure that high-quality goods are exported, he said.
Dr. Lawzi said it is incumbent upon Jordan to meet the provisions of the association
agreement with the European Union as well as that for membership in the World Trade
Organisation, which the Kingdom is seeking to join. At the same time, Jordan is seeking to
strengthen its ties with Arab trading partners, he added.
The AMO last year conducted a study on the markets of Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait,
Lebanon and the UAE to determine their needs of agricultural products. The organisation
has since been directing local producers on competing on markets abroad.
According to Dr. Lawzi, the AMO has concluded export/import accords with Lebanon, the
Palestinian self-rule areas, Yemen and Oman, despatched trial shipments of agricultural
products to Romania and Hungary, and taken part in agricultural product exhibitions in
Lebanon, the UAE and Germany to help market Jordanian products.