Low cotton prices are expected to drive a 14% y-o-y growth of Egypt’s exports to 250k bales in the 2020-2021 marketing year, according to a report (pdf) by the US Department of Agriculture’s Cairo office.

India and Pakistan are expected to remain top importers of Egyptian cotton during the marketing year, which runs from July 2020 to June 2021. Imports of the crop are also expected to increase by 23% to 630k bales, as local supply falls short of domestic demand due to lower yields and area cultivation reduction. Local production is expected to decline by 30% to 215k bales during the marketing year. The report attributes the sharp fall in production to a 35% drop in total land cultivation, along with a surplus carried over into 2020, which added pressure on prices.

OTHER BASIC COMMODITIES NEWS- Egypt’s agricultural exports rose by 10% y-o-y in 1Q2021, totaling almost 2.2 mn tonnes, Agriculture Minister El Sayed El Quseir said in a Cabinet statement. Citrus fruits topped agricultural exports during the three-month period with 1.2 mn tonnes exported, followed by potatoes with over 400k tonnes, El Quseir added. Egypt exported last week its first-ever orange shipment to Japan, after meeting Japanese regulatory import requirements after Japan lifted a 25-year ban on Egyptian citrus imports. Egypt also began exporting citrus fruits to Brazil last year under the Mercosur-Egypt Freetrade agreement.