New subsidy cut may be the end of Egyptian Cotton

The Egyptian government has decided to no longer subsidise farmers planting cotton effective the upcoming growing season, potentially ending the production of the world's finest cotton variety.

On Sunday, Agriculture Minister Adel El-Beltagy told the state-run news agency MENA that growing cotton, particularly the long staple variety, is very expensive and there is not much demand for it neither locally nor internationally.

El-Beltagy said that farmers who still want to grow cotton will be on their own when it comes to finding buyers.

The government currently subsidises cotton growers by LE1,400 per feddan (1.038 acres) – an amount that farmers say is still insufficient to reaching profitability – with the total cost hovering around LE420 million ($58m) if multiplied by the number of cotton-planted feddans.