AMMAN, JORDAN – Products of the Kingdom’s pharmaceutical industries and medical supplies sector moved over the past quarter century to the global level, driven by its development, quality and competitiveness, a stakeholder said.
This has placed Jordan among the top countries in this strategic industry.
Representative of Pharmaceutical Industries and Medical Supply Sector in Jordan Chamber of Industry (JCI), Fadi Atrash, said Jordan’s pharmaceutical and medical supplies industry is considered a “vital” and “important” sector.
He said that this industry carries many “tangible” successes and developments, and confirms commitment of its products to international specifications and standards to reach the “highest” level of competitive advantage.
In remarks to “Petra” on Saturday, he said that the sector has witnessed “remarkable” development over the years, and achieved “noticeable” growth and provide “high-quality” products that enjoy acceptance at the local and global levels, thanks to the “unrelenting” innovation and efforts of its industrial facilities.
Atrash said that the pharmaceutical industries and medical supplies sector has succeeded in transforming from a “modest” local industry into a global industry, characterized by “high quality and strong competitive” capabilities.
He said that the sector’s long journey began in 1962, when the first pharmaceutical factory was established in the city of Salt, with Jordanian assistance and expertise.
Noting the sector’s key successes over the past years, he said the value created by its operations reached about US$1.2 billion (JD852 million) in 2022, representing more than half of the sector’s total production.
Atrash said that this achievement reflects “positively” on its contribution to the gross domestic product at a rate estimated at about 4 percent, which confirms its “important” role in advancing sustainable development and strengthening the Kingdom’s economy.
He said that the pharmaceutical industries and medical supplies sector’s facilities employ approximately 10,000 workers.
The sector is also keen to employ local labor at various administrative and technical levels, as the rate of Jordanians recruited by the sector reached 98 percent, while women exceed 35 percent of the total workforce, he said.
Atrash said that the sector has a “huge” production capacity that operates more than 70 percent production lines.
He said that the sector includes 151 facilities operating inside the Kingdom, with a registered capital of about US$480 million (JD341 million), while the number of Jordanian factories outside the country is 15 plants operating inside Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Sudan.
In 2023, he said that the sector achieved a “qualitative” leap at the export level, as its exports reached US$874 million (JD620 million) with a growth rate of 19 percent, compared to 2022.
Atrash said its products “successfully” reached over 77 countries around the world, making Jordan the only country in the region that exports more than it imports.
He said that Jordan exports more than 40 percent of its pharmaceutical production annually, accounting for approximately 5 percent of the Kingdom’s total national exports.
Atrash said estimates indicate that Jordan has many export opportunities in the medical industry with a value exceeding US$485 million (JD344 million).
Under Economic Modernization Vision, he said goals aimed to increase exports to more than US$2.9 billion (JD2.1 billion) by 2033, reach the added value to about US$ JD1.7 billion, increase the number of the sector workforce to reach 16,000 workers, and attract investments into the sector amounting to approximately US$1.5 billion (JD1.1 billion), through 11 initiatives.