Egyptian spinning and weaving companies may be forced to stop operating for three weeks due to low cotton supplies, according to Mohsen al-Gelany, chairman of the Holding Company for Spinning and Weaving. Al-Gelany told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the decision to halt Egyptian cotton exports is a “sovereign political decision” and is in the best interest of the country. The cotton supply crisis is a global crisis caused by exporting countries who wish to hike prices, according to al-Gelany. The holding company is in talks with a number of cotton exporting countries to try to persuade them to export their cotton to Egypt before April, the date set by most exporting countries to end a ban on cotton exports, he said. Al-Gelany added that the Egyptian government has succeeded in securing cotton export deals with the US, and US cotton is expected to arrive in Egypt shortly. He also revealed that deals for cotton shipments from Benin and Burkina Faso are also being negotiated in accordance with Minister of Agriculture Amin Abaza's decision to broaden the base of countries that Egypt imports cotton from. Al-Gelany said that if the spinning and weaving companies are forced to shut down this will be for a limited period only, and should not affect the efficiency of the machines or equipment. He made assurances that the rights of the company's employees will be fully respected if the shutdown is enforced. He also said that he had warned, on several occasions, of the risks incurred by a current expansion of the industry through growing short staple and medium staple cotton, as it takes five to seven years for the crops to pay off. Al-Gelany added that Egyptian cotton alone is not sufficient to meet the demands of Egyptian companies, especially as its production has waned, and although he had called many years ago for growing short staple and medium staple cotton instead of the long staple Egyptian cotton, no one had heeded his calls. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
