According to a report in the Saudi Gazette on January 7, Egypt’s high-quality cotton cultivation no longer receives government support, and growers were told not to plant cotton before signing a sales contract. Long-staple cotton, known as “white gold” to Egyptians, has shrunk for years, with farmers turning to more profitable crops and local companies using imported cotton to produce lower-quality products.
The Egyptian Minister of Agriculture announced on Thursday that the government will cancel the subsidy of 350 Egyptian pounds per 160 kilograms of cotton, which is equivalent to 40% of the current market price. According to Egyptian government data, Egypt’s cotton exports in the second quarter of the current fiscal year were 109,600 tons, a 70% decrease from the same quarter in 2013. Egypt’s cotton planting area has dropped from 924,000 hectares in the 1960s to about 15,000 hectares currently.
