Egypt’s textile exports may lose $809 million in Q2 due to coronavirus

Egypt’s exports of ready-made garments and textiles are expected to lose $809 million in the second quarter of the year due to the coronavirus, the Egyptian Centre for Economic Studies (ECES) said in a recent report.

The pandemic has led to the cancellation of 85 percent of the export contracts for the second quarter, according to the ECES report on Egypt’s trade activity with East and South Asia countries – viewed by Amwal Al Ghad.

Due to the government’s stringent measures to control the spread of the virus, around 80 percent of factories in Egypt stopped operations, ECES report read.

The free zone factories – which Egypt exports most of their production – had ground to a halt as export contracts were canceled, the report said.

Another factor behind the predicted loss, ECES said the government measures – including closing of schools – have forced women employees, which constitute 47 percent of the workforce of the country’s ready-made garment and textile industries, to be on leave.

The rebound of Egypt’s ready-made garment and textile exports will mainly require a U.S. and European demand recovery, ECES noted.