Imports from Japan come in second position on the list
AMMAN -- Korean-made cars are still taking the largest share of Jordan's imported autos, beating Japan, Germany and the US, official figures showed Monday.
Since the beginning of this year until the end of November, according to the Jordan Customs Department (JCD), a total of 50,942 cars manufactured in South Korea entered the domestic market, representing over 75 per cent of the overall number of vehicles imported from 32 countries.
During the first 11 months of 2010 Jordan imported 43,873 cars from South Korea.
The JCD report, sent to The Jordan Times yesterday, showed that Jordan imported a total of 67,638 cars at a value of JD438.7million during the first 11 months of this year, a slight increase over the same period of 2010 when a total of 67,524 cars were imported to the domestic market at a value of JD518.9 million.
The value of cars brought from Korea exceeded JD224.9 million by the end of November this year compared to JD182 million last year.
The JCD figures showed a sharp decline in the number of cars imported from Japan, which came in the second position on the list of exporters to the Kingdom, with 6,005 cars compared to over 11,000 vehicles imported during the first 11 months of 2010.
Experts attribute the drop in car imports from Japan to the fact that Jordanian motorists prefer affordable Korean-manufactured cars.
Korean cars are affordable to the middle-class people who represent the majority of the population, Nabil Rumman, president of the Jordan Free Zone Investors Association told The Jordan Times in previous interview, indicating that the average price of a Korean car in the local market ranges between JD6,000 to JD8,000.
Germany came third, swapping place with the US, with a total of 3,856 cars while the number of cars from the US stood at 3,261 followed by France with 1,164 vehicles, the JCD figures indicated.
© Jordan Times 2011
