Egypt aims at increasing readymade garment exports by 10 per cent. Other goals are to increase the number of small and medium class exporters, to participate in specialised expos and promotional missions and increase the number of the sector’s workers from about one million to two million.

Egypt’s location qualifies it to be a logistical hub for the textile industries and products, imported from Africa, along with the free trading agreement that Egypt signed, linking it with a number of countries. But challenges abound. Payment of export subsidies is erratic and irregular. There has been a dramatic increase in production costs, including transport costs and energy costs, since the floatation of the Egyptian pound in November 2016. A huge proportion of raw materials has to be imported.

Some of these are being worked on. Economic reforms are being undertaken. Exporters are being offered financing and training facilities in order to double Egyptian garment exports. Exporters’ base is being expanded by attracting small and medium companies. This has already succeeded in attracting about 25 new factories to the sector. About 85 per cent of Egypt’s readymade garment exports are to the US and European countries like Spain, Germany, France and Turkey.