102 COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 



The large cotton export firms are, as will be seen from the list, 

 in foreign hands, and consequently the profit of their business under- 

 takings, will, to a large extent, go abroad, although it must not be 

 forgotten that during the last few decades the large ginning fac- 

 tories, presses, &c. , have been created almost entirely with the capital 

 of these large exporting firms. 



Amongst the 23 firms mentioned, seven are in the hands of 

 Germans, or enjoy German protection, and their exports during 

 1911/12 amounted to 30 per cent, of the cotton shipped from Alex- 

 andria. 



Some exporters buy direct from the planter, gin his seed cotton 

 for their own account, and press the lint at the ginning station into 

 proper export bales, in order to enable the cotton to be shipped direct 

 from the ginning station. 



Mostly, however, the exporters buy ginned cotton in the market 

 of Alexandria, to w r hich planters, ginners, and dealers send the cotton 

 from the interior. The cotton which is offered in the market is 

 stored in warehouses of commission agents, banks, &c., whilst the 

 cotton which is stored in the presses is already owned by the ex- 

 porters, and is not sold in the market at Alexandria. On the basis 

 of samples submitted by the brokers to the exporters, the cotton 

 which is stored in the warehouses of the commission agents, bankers, 

 &c., is sold, the brokerage being | to J per cent. 



The exporter has his own house in Europe, and agents in the 

 cotton districts of Europe and America. The spinning mills have 

 no buyers of their own in Alexandria. 



The price of Egyptian cotton is fixed in Alexandria in the follow- 

 ing manner : 



Egypt has been coining money on its own basis since 1834, 

 it has accepted the metric system for all administrative 

 purposes since 1875; in 1885 the present coinage of ^El = 

 100 P.T. at 10 Milliemes was introduced, and in 1892 the metric 

 system was generally accepted. Nevertheless, at the Produce Ex- 

 change in Alexandria business is still transacted according to the old 

 coinage, weights, and measures, viz., the old Marie Therese dollar or 

 * Talleri," which are being coined by Austria at a great profit. The 

 coins bear the year 1787, and have been appreciated in Egypt and 

 many countries of the East, on account of their high silver percen- 

 tage ; up to 1885 the Marie Therese dollar was the most favoured 

 coin. The Alexandria Produce Exchange still uses the kantar of 

 44-928 kg. at 100 Rottls, and ardebs of 197f Litres. To-day the 

 Egyptian 20 P.T. piece is called " Talleri " in the Egyptian cotton 

 trade. In calculations we still meet with a sub-division of the P.T. 

 into the old 40 paras. 



The quotations of cotton in Alexandria are given per kantar in 

 Talleri and 32nds of Talleri, and in quoting the different qualities as 

 Mitafifi, &c., are further sub-divided into grades. These official 

 grades are : Mit Afifi, Ashmouni, and Asili are divided into fair, fully 

 fair, good fair, fully good fair, and good; Abbassi, Joanovitch, 

 Nubari, and Sakellaridis into good fair, fully good fair, good and 

 extra. * 



Besides these classifications, each Alexandrian firm has its own 

 private sub-divisions, sometimes under fancy names of no meaning, 



