The Director-General of the Amman Chamber of Industry, Nael Al-Hussami, said that cement prices “increased only 5 dinars” in the local market, noting that it is “much less than the global rise rate and the production input rate.”

He added to the Voice of the Kingdom program, that “the rise in prices started since August of last year, that is, 10 months before the price curve began to rise globally.”

And the cement factories two weeks ago “made a slight adjustment to their costs,” according to Al-Hussami, who believes that “they will suffer major losses by the end of the year.”

He pointed out that “the cost of energy from coal or alternatives has risen by more than 10 dinars per ton, and the cost of paper is more than one and a half dinars per ton, in addition to the fact that the price of electricity is very high.”

Al-Hussami explained, “Iron depends on production inputs that are imported from abroad, and we cannot be outside the swarm,” adding that “iron dust or the basic production input rose from $65 to $275 per ton.”

Jordan “imports all production inputs and is dependent on the international stock exchange,” Al-Hussami stressed.

The deputy captain of the Logistics Freight Forwarding Agents Syndicate, Nabil Al-Khatib, said that “the shipping prices globally are not the only and main reason for the increase in prices, but their increase is considered a reason for the high prices.”

“Shipping prices have not seen these rises in 40 or 50 years, and this impact is not only on the Jordanian market, but on the global market in general, and we are affected by that,” according to Al-Khatib.

And 37% of Jordan’s imports came from China, where the cost of shipping at the beginning of the Corona crisis was from 400 to 500 dollars, but “it increased to two thousand dollars for a 40-foot container, and now it has become from 10 to 11 thousand dollars for a container … and these prices were not imagined.” According to Khatib.

He pointed out that “the freight charges are now more expensive than the goods.”

The representative of the foodstuff sector in the Jordan Chamber of Industry, Muhammad Al-Jitan, spoke about the possibility of “supporting the local industry by opening additional markets for exports and benefiting from free trade agreements between countries,” which was directed by His Majesty King Abdullah II.

He referred to the “demands to reduce sales tax,” speaking of “a study between the industrial sector and the Ministry of Finance to study the tax impact.”

He pointed to “the need to reduce tax in Jordan,” suggesting “it is likely that it will be reduced, because there are tax distortions between the tax rates on sales.”