Despite the global popularity of Egyptian cotton by virtue of the country’s long history in growing the crop, some local textile manufacturers have chosen to rely on U.S. cotton instead. A report published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) highlights that U.S. exports of lint cotton to Egypt increased by 30 percent or USD 12.282 million to reach USD 40 million in the past year compared to USD 27,733 million in 2014. The FAS had previously warned of the deteriorating quality of Egyptian cotton, which it attributed to the mixing of extra-long staple cotton like Giza 86 and Giza 88 with medium-staple types like Giza 90 when growing the crops. Although Egyptian law prohibits growing the wrong types of cotton in particular agricultural lands, the FAS pointed that the security fallout that followed the January 2011 uprising has led to a lack of implementation. Egypt’s agriculture ministry is responsible for the organisation of cotton production, allocating the production of short- and medium-staple cotton in Upper Egypt while the long-staple types are concentrated in the Delta region. Cotton production in Egypt is made up of about 90…
Egyptian Cotton Loses its Prominence, Even for Local Manufacturers – US Report
September 1, 2016
