High shipping costs impact clothing prices that will go up by 15%

AMMAN — Clothing prices are expected to go up by between 10 to 15 percent this winter, Asaad Qawasmi, representative of the clothing sector at the Jordan Chamber of Commerce, told Jordan News.اضافة اعلان

He said the clothing sector in Jordan is going through tough times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the situation is expected to get worse in the coming months. 

“We are not happy to announce that winter clothes prices are expected to go up this winter. We are obliged to raise prices due to the significant increase in shipping costs which are borne by the merchants themselves who cannot bear any more losses,” Qawasmi said.

He said clothing merchants who used to pay $2000 per shipping container now pay $12000, a six fold increase. This increase will be reflected in the price of goods for both the merchants and the consumer.

“I believe that merchants will not raise their prices. They know that they and their customers are going through hard circumstances and that (customers) cannot bear any future price hike,” Qawasmi said.

The rise in shipping costs will only impact goods that come from countries like China, he said. “Consumers may rest assured that there are alternatives, like Turkey, for example. Prices of goods coming from Turkey will not go up, and if they do it will be just three percent maximum,” Qawasmi said.

Munir Deyye, a merchant and the former president of the Textile Readymade Clothes Syndicate, told Jordan News that the market is “stuck in a paradox” where there is very low demand on clothes and a depressed market, while at the same time there is a significant rise in shipping costs.

“Merchants expect a new wave of stagnation in the coming days, and as such will not raise their prices,” Deyye said. “They know that customers will not bear any future price rise. Merchants will not aim to make much profit, only to compensate for their losses and not to incur more loses.”

Deyye confirmed that the global increase in shipping prices is reflected on local markets: “I expect that the price rise on some goods would reach as high as 50 percent.”

According to media reports, the clothing sector recorded JD200 million in losses up to April, and nearly 700 establishments in the clothing and textile sector closed, and 1,600 workers were laid off, as a result of the pandemic and its consequences.

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