Chemical, cosmetic exports increased by 22% in 2020

AMMAN — The Kingdom’s chemical and cosmetic exports during the first 11 months of 2020 grew by 22 per cent.

According to official data, chemical and cosmetic exports during the January-November period of 2020 reached $1.23 billion, in comparison with $1.013 billion during the same period of 2019, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The sector includes economic opportunities at a value of some $2.304 billion, both for exports and untapped opportunities, due to high demand after the coronavirus crisis, particularly for detergents, disinfectants, sterilisers, fertilisers and agricultural pesticides.

The Kingdom’s chemical and cosmetic industries sector, with 700 industrial facilities, manufacture four times more than the country’s needs, with factories producing 375,000 tonnes of hand sanitisers, disinfectants and detergents a year, while the local market’s maximum demand reached only 85,000 tonnes, according to Petra.

Ahmed Al Bess, representative of the chemical and cosmetic industries sector at the Jordan Chamber of Industry, said that the sector’s untapped export opportunities are estimated at $1.74 billion, accounting for 36 per cent of the total untapped export opportunities of Jordan’s industrial sector.

Jordan can reach all international markets, he said, highlighting the available investment opportunities in the sector, attaching importance to optimising Al Risha gas field in Mafraq, 80km northeast of Amman, for various chemical industries, including ammonia and nitrogen in cooperation with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.