The head of the Amman Chamber of Commerce, Khalil Haj Tawfiq, said, on Saturday, that Egypt’s decision to stop the export of all kinds of vegetable oils is “surprising,” indicating his aspiration to obtain an “exception” for Jordanian traders and factories contracting for quantities of oil.

Jordan imports oils and some legumes from Egypt, but the latter suspended the export of some items imported by the Kingdom for a period of 3 months.

Al-Hajj Tawfiq, head of the Food Traders Syndicate, told Al-Mamlaka that Jordan “imports oil from Egypt in the form of production inputs for factories and ready-made goods,” pointing out that “imports from Egypt as an Arab country are not subject to customs.”

And he talked about “contracts (with Egypt) for Jordanian merchants and factories, with part or all of their price paid. This decision came suddenly,” he explained: “Traders built on the contracted quantities for the local market, so this quantity constituted an increase in supply in the market.”

Egypt explained its decision, “within the framework of the state’s plan to provide the citizens’ needs for commodities, especially basic commodities, in light of preparing to receive the month of Ramadan, during which the rate of consumption of food products increases by a large percentage.”

Haj Tawfiq mentioned, “Previous experiences took place and the Ministry of Industry and Trade helped us to obtain an exception for the goods that were contracted and paid for, and the Minister of Industry and Trade, Youssef Al-Shamali, put us in the form of the decision.” before the decision is made.

“In the past, these agreements were respected by any country that stopped exporting in order to preserve its stock or price stability,” according to Haj Tawfiq.

He said, “There is no need to worry, and the decision may be taken by other countries, but we will deal with this decision. We expect that traders and contracting factories will be allowed to export.”

As for Jordan, Egypt is distinguished by its “near distance,” which makes “the shipping cost less than the countries of Asia, Ukraine, Russia and the United States for oils,” according to Hajj Tawfik.

Jordan also imports part of its needs of crushed lentils from Egypt, in addition to dry beans and wheat derivatives.

Al-Hajj Tawfiq indicated that the Amman Chamber of Commerce limits the concluded contracts to the quantities of goods that include vegetable oils or legumes.