Egypt has halted all cotton imports in a bid to assist the production and marketing of the local crop. The market for Egypt's high-quality, extra-long staple cotton, once dubbed the country's white gold, has been in declining for years. Just six months earlier, the government had announced an end to support for farmers. It told farmers not to grow the crop unless they had contracts in place to sell it. At the time, the government felt cultivating Egypt’s long and extra long cotton, which competes with the US pima variety for high quality fibers, was too expensive. By then Egypt's own textile firms had shifted their focus to creating low-quality products with cheap raw cotton imports.

Egypt liberalised its cotton sector in 1994, exposing farmers to volatile global prices and rising fertiliser costs. Cotton acreage has fallen dramatically since the heyday of the 1960s, when Egypt produced cotton from up to 9,24,000 hectares helped by fixed state prices. Current production is barely half of that.

Egyptian cotton is regarded the world’s finest. The length of the fiber makes it possible to make the finest of yarns without sacrificing the strength of the yarn. The strength of the fiber makes fabrics more solid and more resistant to stress.