Jordan exports to UAE surge in first half

Jordan’s industrial exports to the UAE jumped 29% in the first half of 2026, adding about JD45 million to their value as manufacturers expanded sales across major regional and global markets.

The increase implies industrial shipments to the UAE reached roughly JD200 million during the January-June period, compared with about JD155 million a year earlier. The JD45 million gain is equivalent to about 233 million UAE dirhams and came as Jordan’s overall industrial exports advanced 8.9%.

Total industrial exports reached JD4.4 billion during the six months, against about JD4 billion in the corresponding period of 2025. The increase of roughly JD400 million highlighted broad-based growth across manufacturing rather than dependence on one or two industries.

The UAE performance also comes against the backdrop of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the two countries, which took effect on May 15, 2025. Signed in October 2024, the agreement was the UAE’s first such comprehensive trade pact with an Arab country and was designed to deepen trade, investment and industrial cooperation.

The pact maintains liberalisation across more than 98% of tariff lines and provides streamlined customs procedures while extending preferential treatment to qualifying goods from free zones. Those provisions offer Jordanian producers wider access to the UAE, a major regional distribution and re-export centre serving Gulf, Asian and African markets.

Chemical industries and cosmetics produced the largest absolute increase among Jordan’s industrial sectors during the first half. Their exports rose by about JD107 million, or 11.4%, to JD1.042 billion, reinforcing their position among the country’s strongest manufacturing export categories.

Construction industries registered the fastest growth among major sectors, with exports rising 82.1% and adding around JD62 million to reach JD137 million. Mining industries increased by about JD54 million, or 10.6%, to nearly JD568 million, while engineering, electrical and information technology industries added JD49 million, a rise of 7.1%, to approximately JD745 million.

Food, beverage, agricultural and livestock industries expanded exports by 9%, adding roughly JD41 million. Plastic and rubber products grew 20.3%, wood and furniture exports increased 15.6%, and packaging, paper, cardboard and office-supply industries posted growth of 7.4%.

Garments and related products remained Jordan’s largest individual industrial export group by value, recording shipments worth about JD806 million during the first half. Fertilisers and jewellery were also among the country’s leading exported industrial products.

Growth was geographically diverse. Industrial exports to China increased by around JD82 million, representing a 70% rise, while exports to Switzerland climbed by approximately JD80 million, or 204%. Shipments to Iraq added about JD73 million, an increase of 16%, and exports to the Netherlands rose by JD41 million, or 88%.

Several smaller markets recorded much sharper percentage gains from lower bases. Exports to Thailand rose 115%, Vietnam 765%, Kazakhstan 844% and Argentina 2,429%. Shipments to the UK increased 53%, while Belgium registered growth of 45%, demonstrating an expanding geographic spread for Jordanian manufactured goods.

The first-half performance builds on a strong 2025, when industrial exports rose 10.2% to JD8.89 billion from JD8.07 billion a year earlier. Jordanian industrial products reached nearly 150 overseas markets during that year, underlining the sector’s growing reliance on export diversification.

Arab markets remain central to that strategy. Jordan’s national exports to countries in the Greater Arab Free Trade Area reached JD1.997 billion in the first half of 2026, up 4.4% year on year and representing about 42.8% of total national exports. Imports from those markets, however, rose much faster, widening Jordan’s trade deficit with the bloc.