The Government of Egypt hopes to curb losses and improve the income of the Holding Company for weaving and spinning, according to a Cabinet statement released last week, Aswat Masriya reported.

 

A meting of the Cabinet, attended by the Industry, Finance and Investment Ministers, discussed ways to improve the income of the public sector company, comprising of over 30 units.

 

The Holding Company is currently facing financial issues and it lost an estimated US$ 2.9 million in 2013, according to the company chairman Fouad Abdel Aleem.

 

Mr. Aleem said the rise in price of cotton, which now prevails at 1,650 Egyptian pounds per qantar (equal to either 157 kilograms of seed cotton or 50 kilograms of lint cotton), also affects the market.

 

During the meeting, Minister of Investment Osama Saleh said Egypt has skilled labour in textiles and weaving sectors, but these have been suffering huge losses during the past few years due to the Government’s negligence.

 

He attributed the losses incurred by the Holding Company to the two reasons: non-replacement/upgradation of equipments for long, and not meeting the financial demands of workers.

 

The consumption of cotton by domestic spinning and weaving mills registered 346,200 quintals in March-May 2013 period, registering a decline of 1.7 percent compared to domestic consumption of 352,300 quintals during the corresponding period of previous year, according to the data from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

 

The consumption of imported cotton during the March-May 2013 period also declined by 6.3 percent to 21,800 quintals from import of 23,200 quintals during the same period previous season, CAPMAS said in its quarterly newsletter for the third quarter of the 2012-13 agricultural year.

 

CAPMAS attributed both the decrease in domestic consumption of cotton as well as cotton imports to the closing down of a number of spinning and weaving factories due to political instability in the country.