AMMAN — President of the Zarqa Chamber of Industry (ZCI) Fares Hammoudeh said on Tuesday that the Arab countries topped the list of importers of industrial products in Zarqa during the first half of this year with a share of 44 per cent of the total exports.

 

The Arab countries’ imports of ZCI reached $294 million in the January-June period of 2025, compared with $254.6 million during the same period of 2024, with a growth rate of 15 per cent, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

 

This progress reflects "qualitative" leaps in the volume of trade exchange with a number of Arab countries, led by Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Algeria, ZCI said in a statement, noting that Saudi Arabia and Iraq accounted for 77 per cent of exports for Arab markets.

 

Iraq's share of exports reached $113.1 million, ranking first in the Arab world, with a growth rate of 32 per cent compared with $85.4 million the previous year, while exports to Saudi Arabia recorded an increase of 35 per cent to $82.3 million, compared with $61 million in the same period of 2024.

 

Exports to Algeria witnessed an "exceptional" growth of 266 per cent, reaching $32.9 million compared with only $9 million in the first half of last year, while the percentage of exports to Syria jumped by 57 per cent to $8.5 million, compared with $5.4 million in the same period.

 

Hammoudeh pointed out that the total value of Zarqa's exports for the first half of this year reached $666.2 million, achieving a slight increase of 1 per cent compared with $661 million during the same period of 2024.

 

At the international level, North America ranked second after the Arab countries, accounting for 40.8 per cent of the total exports with a value of $272.1 million.

 

The value of exports to non-Arab Asian countries amounted to about $42.6 million, marking an increase of 3 per cent from last year, while the EU countries recorded a decline in imports from Zarqa by 33 per cent to only $20 million, compared with $29.7 million in the same period of 2024.

 

With regard to sectorial performance, Hammoudeh said that the leather and knitting industries sector maintained its lead, with a value of $291.3 million, a decrease of 15 per cent compared with last year.

 

The food, catering, agricultural and livestock industries sector ranked second with $125.4 million, with a growth rate of 2 per cent, followed by the construction industries sector with $70.5 million, recording a jump of 51 per cent.

 

The engineering, electrical and information technology industries came fourth with exports of $65.3 million, achieving “strong” growth of 52 per cent, followed by the chemical and cosmetics industries sector with a value of $37 million, up by 11 per cent from last year.

 

With regard to the performance of the rest of the industrial sectors, the exports of the packaging, paper, cardboard and office supplies sector amounted to $28.3 million.

 

The therapeutic industries and medical supplies sector amounted to $27.4 million, the plastic and rubber industries sector amounted to $18.9 million, while the exports of the wood and furniture industries sector amounted to $1.6 million.