Mohamed Youssef, a member of the Supreme Council for Textile Industries, has said that Egypt’s exports of raw cotton and clothing stopped completely during the past week, as a result of a significant reduction in demand by international companies for cotton due to the coronavirus outbreak. The factories were suffering from a large deficit in financial liquidity before stopping exports and will not be able to pay the workers’ monthly wages, which amount to EGP 20 million ($1.3 million). Some factories have been threatened with closure, he added. Youssef called on the government to pay exporters’ dues from the export subsidy programme, which has not been disbursed for five years.

The volume of Egyptian raw cotton exports is estimated at $1.5 billion annually, in addition to about $300 million of ready-made clothes. It’s reported that the volume of exported cotton declined during the first three months of this season by about 17 per cent compared to the same period last season. Egypt’s cotton production decreased this season by 13,000 tons, as a result of the decline in the area of cultivated land from 120,000 acres to 40,000 acres.