Walid Yehia, director of the Cotton Research Institute at the Ministry of Agriculture, said in comments published on Thursday, September 24, 2026, that Egypt’s cotton-planted area rose during the 2026 season to 200,853 feddans, from 195,000 feddans during the 2025 season, an increase of about 6,000 feddans, or nearly 3%.
Production forecast at 1.259 million seed-cotton qintars
Yehia said the area planted during the 2025 season produced around 1.220 million seed-cotton qintars, with an average yield of 6.26 seed-cotton qintars per feddan. Following ginning, this resulted in around 1.441 million lint-cotton qintars, with an average yield of 7.39 lint-cotton qintars per feddan.
He forecast that the area planted during the 2026 season would produce around 1.259 million seed-cotton qintars, allowing for the production of around 1.484 million lint-cotton qintars after ginning. He noted that the average yield per feddan for the current season had not yet been determined, with harvesting beginning in Upper Egypt governorates at the start of September, while Lower Egypt governorates account for more than 94% of the total planted area.
He said crop estimates indicated that the average yield per feddan would be no lower than the average for the 2025 season, noting that harvesting had begun in Fayoum, Beni Suef, Minya, Sohag and Assiut.
Exports and local spinning mills
Yehia added that average Egyptian cotton exports range between 60,000 and 80,000 tonnes of lint cotton annually, while local spinning mills use around 10,000 to 15,000 tonnes a year.
He said there was a plan to increase the quantities of Egyptian cotton absorbed by the domestic market, alongside the development of the spinning and textile sector and the entry of new factories into operation.
Marketing cotton through auctions
The director of the Cotton Research Institute said the state had applied since 2019 a crop-marketing system combining cooperative marketing with the free market, through sales at public auctions and by linking domestic prices to global prices.
He added that the auction opening price is set by the General Organization for Arbitration and Cotton Testing under a mechanism based on global prices for short-staple cotton, “Index A,” in addition to a quality premium for Upper Egypt cotton that rose from 20% to 40% during the 2025/2026 season.
