From the most comfortable bed sheets to the softest shirts – the Egyptians have long been known as the greatest producers of cotton worldwide.
The Pharaoh’s used it in the creation of animal figurines, your friends who recently got married requested sheets made of its renown comfort in their wedding registry, Owen Wilson even gave it a shoutout in the film Wedding Crashers.
It is, by many standards, the Michael Jordan of cotton.
But the Egyptian government seems to be thinking otherwise, as it recently made the decision to reduce government subsidies on cotton production.
English news website, Ahram Online recently reported that the government’s decision to end cotton subsidies came on the back of the perception that demand in both international and local markets is dwindling.
According to the article, the country’s agricultural minister told state-run news agency MENA, that not only is the market shrinking but that growing the crop’s long staple is too expensive.
ArabFinance.com reported the move as well, stating that the market for the country’s “white gold” has been shrinking for years due to competition with the American Pima variety, which is much cheaper to produce than the Egyptian long staple.
While you may be mourning the prospective loss of some of the finest linens that have ever graced your skin, farmers in Egypt are facing consequences of a higher magnitude.
The article in Ahram Online reported that even the current subsidy of $200 per 1.038 acres isn’t enough for cotton farmers to reach profitability.
This means that forcing farmers to find all of their buyers on their own will make it that much harder for them to maintain an already unprofitable cost structure.
Gamal Siyam, a professor of Agricultural Economics at Cairo University, told Ahram Online that the subsidy is “the end of Egyptian cotton,” explaining that since market prices are low, ending the subsidy means farmers cannot sustain the cost.
The government however, seems to hold a different opinion.
ArabFinance.com quoted Egypt’s deputy agricultural minister as telling Reuters that the decision “will give (farmers) a profit margin instead of dealing with the free market that goes up and down and endangers them with price fluctuations.”
The decision is the latest in a series of measures the government of recently elected President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has to cut public expenditures. In July, El-Sisi’s government took the bold decision to cut fuel subsidies, raising prices at the pump by up to 78 percent .
Whether you're worried that your Egyptian-made bedspread is wearing thin, or that the set in your closet has yet to be used, one thing is clear: it’s time to change your sheets.