Trade between Jordan and Qatar has grown since early 2022

Al-Anbat - Abdullah Dabash

 The volume of trade between Jordan and Qatar during the first nine months of this year exceeded 500 million riyals ($137.3 million), up by 4.8%, compared with 476 million riyals ($130.7 million) during the corresponding period of 2021, according to analytical statistical data and figures of QPSO.

  Analytical statistics for QPSO data released on Wednesday forecast a rise in trade between Jordan and Qatar until the end of this year and in 2023, based on the continuing pace of trade growth and import and export movement between the two countries, with a significant contribution from Jordan's and Qatar private sector.

 Jordan's exports to Qatar focus on fresh and manufactured food and products, such as many varieties of vegetables, fruit, meat, dates of all kinds, fresh cheese and dairy, meat and derivatives, poultry and derivatives, cereals, desserts, cakes of all kinds, rice, juices, nuts, oils and obesity of their species, pickles, herbs, honey, birds, Jordanian coffee and egg.

 Qatar's exports to Jordan include various chemicals, such as automotive oils, slovenian acid, lutrine, aluminum molds, paraffin, polyethylene, iron rods, chemical fertilizers of various kinds and uses, plastic bags, motor oils, organic fertilizer, medical solutions, as well as certain goods and food products.

  In special statements to the Jordanian News Agency (PETRA), Qatari businessmen praised the quality of Jordanian goods and products in the Qatari market and the high demand it received from various sectors of consumers.

 Hamad al-Shamlan, a Qatari businessman, said Jordan's industry had achieved high levels and high quality jumps over the past few years, with Jordanian products able to compete strongly in the Qatari market compared to similar goods and products imported from other Arab and foreign markets.

 Jordan's food products, especially its high quality, high competitiveness and reasonable prices, had been able to impose their presence and reach distant places and markets around the world, not just our region.

 He stressed that food products and commodities manufactured in Jordan in particular today have a strong presence and widespread reach in Qatar, and are high on the tables of Qatari consumers and residents, and in the priority of their regular purchases lists.

 Qatari businessman Nasser al-Suwaidi said that most Doha stores, commercial markets, major shopping malls and outlets spread across Qatar are now not without Jordanian goods and products, indicating the efficiency and quality of these products, their preferred quality among consumers, as well as their great ability to meet the aspirations and desires of consumers.

He counting that the Qatari consumer has become more accustomed to Jordanian goods and products than ever, given the specifications and standards of these products and the momentum of their availability in Qatar's various markets, so that their proliferation in stores is normal and welcomed by consumers.

 Qatar's market relies mainly on Jordanian food goods and products, with many advantages in terms of quality, quality and moderate price levels compared to competing goods imported by Qatar from other global markets.

The private sector in the two countries is keen to develop and promote joint economic and trade relations more broadly, benefiting the economy of Jordan and Qatar, and to expand the base of joint investment projects to support the growth of intra-trade.

Over the past 10 years, trade between Jordan and Qatar had exceeded 11.5 billion riyals ($ 3.17 billion), according to QPSO.

From 2012 to 2017, Qatar's exports to Jordan amounted to about SAR 5.35 billion, compared to 2.44 billion for imports, with a difference between exports and imports of SAR 2.91 billion representing a trade surplus in favor of Qatar. During the years from 2018 to the end of 2021, the trade surplus turned in favor of Jordan by 1 billion riyals. In those years, Qatar's exports amounted to approximately 1.2 billion riyals against 2.2 billion imports.