The volume of Egypt's cotton exports amounted to 37,500 kantars of hair cotton, worth $ 3.3 million in the 3rd week of the export season. Aggregate contracted cotton reached 199,000 kantars, worth $ 18.6 million as of the beginning of the export season.
Egypt's cotton exports are directed to 15 states, where India ranked first, accounting for 26.5 % of aggregate contracted cotton. It is followed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with 18 % of the aggregate contracted cotton. Turkey, Italy, Thailand, China, Switzerland and the USA came after that, according to Government Representative at the Cotton Exporters Federation, Mohammed El-Shiewie.
The cotton exports include extra-long staple hair cotton (Giza 70, Giza 88) hitting 70,520 kantars while long-staple hair cotton (Giza 86, Giza 89, Giza 80, Giza 83) reached 89,740 kantars, according to the Head of the General Arbitration and Testing Authority Salah El-Attar.
According to local sources, Egypt's cotton exports are set to reach 60,000 tons of cotton accounting for 1.1 million kantars to 1.2 million kantars of cotton in the 2004/2005 export season.
Meanwhile, Egypt's local spinners recieved 76,706 kantars of hair cotton during the 2004/2005 exports season, 45,054 kantars of which have been delivered to the public spinners, while 31,652 kantars of hair cotton were provided to the private sector, El-Attar noted. Furthermore, the Egyptian cotton export prices dropped by 40 % compared to last year's prices for all cotton brands, including Giza 70, reaching 95 cents/libra, Giza 88, 92 cents/libra and Giza 86, 85 cents/libra.
This decline is attributed to the government's decision to raise cotton prices in the last season which led to a backtrack in Egypt's cotton exports, at a time when there was strong competition from the low-price US Prima cotton. (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
