Jordan's exports to the European Union (EU) countries increased by 52.6 percent during the first five months of 2010, compared to the same period of 2009, according to official figures.

The Arab kingdom's exports to the EU states during the January- May period of 2010 reached 75.2 million Jordanian dinars (about 106 million U.S. dollars) compared to 49.6 million dinars during the same period last year, the figures by Jordan's Department of Statistics showed Saturday.

Italy topped the list of European importers from Jordan with 20.4 million dinars worth of imports, while Jordanian exports to Romania stood at 11.6 million dinars.

The figures showed that Jordan's imports from the EU during the first five months of 2010 stood at 832 million dinars, dropping by 7 percent compared to the same period last year. Of the overall Jordanian imports from the EU countries, about 245 million dinars worth of imports were from Germany. (1 U.S. dollar = 0.709 Jordanian dinar)