An Economic Study of the Determinants of Cotton Production in Egypt

Abstract

The research aims to study the main factors affecting the cotton crop, in order to shed light on the obstacles and problems affecting the production of this crop. The time trend equation indicates that the amount of Egypt imports of the cotton crop took an increasing trend during the period 1985-2019 by a statistically significant annual rate of about 2.62 thousand tons. Egyptian exports of cotton went through major changes during recent history. Cotton was a major source of foreign exchange in the sixities and seventies but it became a minor export crop starting from the mid 1980s until now. Egypt exports of cotton were estimated at about $474.4 million on average during the period (2015-2019). Turkey comes first as the most important importer of Egyptian cotton, with an average value of about 124.8 million dollars which constitute about 26.31% of all Egyptian cotton exports. The cultivated area of the cotton crop assumed a downward trend by a statistically significant annual rate of about 27.62 thousand feddans during the study period. At the same time the cotton yield tends to be stagnant in recent years. In fact the land cotton productivity took an upward trend by a statistically insignificant annual rate during the study period.