News

Home > News

International Express: Brazil seeks to export more cotton to Egypt

International Express: Brazil seeks to export more cotton to Egypt

In early April 2023, after Egypt and Brazil signed a phytosanitary agreement to establish rules for the supply of cotton from Brazil to Egypt, Brazilian cotton will seek to enter the Egyptian market, and the Brazilian Cotton Growers Association (ABRAPA) has set the above goals.

 

ABRAPA Chairman Alexandre Schenkel said that with the opening of Brazil's cotton exports to Egypt, the industry will organize some trade promotion activities in Egypt in the first half of this year.

 Australian Cotton.png

He said other countries had done the work with Brazilian embassies and agricultural officials, and Egypt would do the same.

 

ABRAPA wants to demonstrate the quality of Brazilian cotton, the traceability of production and the reliability of supply.

 

Egypt is a major cotton producer, but the country mainly grows long-staple and extra-long-staple cotton, which is a premium product. Brazilian farmers grow medium fiber cotton.

 

"Egypt imports about 120,000 tons of cotton per year, so we hope that Brazil's cotton exports to Egypt will reach about 25,000 tons per year."

 

He added that this is the experience of Brazilian cotton when it enters a new market: to achieve a 20% market share, some of which can eventually reach as high as 50%.

 

He said that Egyptian textile manufacturers are expected to use Brazilian medium-fiber cotton blended with domestic long-staple cotton, which he believes may account for 20% of Egypt's total cotton imports.

 

"It's going to be up to us; on whether they like our product. We can serve them well."

 

Cotton harvest times are different in the northern hemisphere, where Egypt and the United States are located, and the southern hemisphere, where Brazil is located, he said. "We can get cotton into the Egyptian market in the second half of the year."

 

Brazil is currently the world's second-largest cotton exporter after the United States, and the world's fourth-largest producer.

 

However, unlike other major cotton producing countries, Brazil's cotton output can not only meet domestic demand, but also can export most of it to overseas markets.

 

For example, in December 2022, the country exported 175,700 tons of cotton. From August to December 2022, the country exported 952,100 tons of cotton, a year-on-year increase of 14.6%.

 

The Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply announced that it has opened the Egyptian market, which is also a request of Brazilian farmers.

 

He said that Brazil has promoted cotton in the global market for 20 years, and he believes that the information and reliability of Brazilian production has also spread to Egypt.

 

He also said Brazil would meet Egypt's phytosanitary requirements. "Just as we require some control of phytosanitary controls entering Brazil, we must also respect the phytosanitary control requirements of other countries."

 

He added that the quality of Brazilian cotton was as high as that of rivals such as the United States, and that the country's producing regions were less vulnerable to the water and climate crisis than the United States. Even with a decline in cotton production, Brazil can still export cotton.

 

Brazil's annual cotton production is about 2.6 million tons, and domestic demand is only about 700,000 tons.

Message