COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. Ill 



at the time of the International Cotton Congress in Egypt, although 

 not publicly, and that it is possible to pack the cotton well, even 

 without damage to the quality, without any artificial watering at all, 

 is proved by the example of the States Domains. 



The reason why the bales (about 85 per cent, of the total) are 

 not completely finished for export at the time of the first pressing 

 has already been given in the paragraph referring to pressing. Only 

 when the Alexandria house, after long business connections with the 

 seller, has satisfied itself as to the reliability of the seller, does it 

 buy the bales ready made up and pressed for export. Generally, the 

 steam-pressed bales entering Alexandria have been already sold 

 direct to Europe in the ginning factories. 



The steamship companies accept only tightly-pressed bales, and 

 the following rates of freight were charged for cotton from Alexan- 

 dria during the season 1912/13 to: 



Trieste (franco waggon) Frcs. 2-20 per 100 kg. 



Genoa and Venice 2-00 



Marseilles 2-00 



Barcelona 3-30 



Oporto via Liverpool 26/6 per ton measurement of 40 cub. ft. 



Havre Frcs. 3-85 per 100 kg. 



Dunkirk 3-24 



Rotterdam 20/6 per ton of 1,000 kg. 



Hamburg 22/- 



Stettin via Liverpool 23/- measurement. 



Riga via Liverpool 21/ ,, ,, ,, 



St. Petersburg via Liverpool 20/6 



Odessa Frcs. 1 80 per 100 kg. 



Liverpool and Manchester 12/- per ton measurement. 



Boston, New York, and Philadelphia 19/6 ,, 



Kobe, Yokohama 35/- 1,000 kg. 



Osaka 40/6 



Almost all the countries which carry on cotton spinning import 

 Egyptian cotton. At the time of the reign of Mohammed All France 

 and England were the chief importers of about an equal quantity 

 of cotton, Trieste followed, and at times took more; importations 

 of much less quantities were made by Livorno and Genoa. England, 

 on account of the rapid development of her cotton industry, 

 especially since the American Civil War, has taken more and more a 

 pre-eminent position and imported in the year 1870 about 80 per cent, 

 of the total Egyptian cotton harvest. Since that time, however, the 

 imports to England have decreased to a figure below half of the total 

 exports from Egypt (1898, 43$ per cent. ; 1912, 46 per cent.), whilst 

 the U.S.A., Russia, and Japan have appeared on the market as 

 new customers. This extension of the circle of importers is of 

 material significance for Egypt, as its export market has thereby 

 become independent of the prosperity or adversity of any one 

 individual seat of industry. 



The second largest importers of Egyptian cotton to-day are 

 the U.S.A., which, since 1889, have appeared on the market as large 

 and increasing purchasers, and for their thriving industry in finer 

 counts could not dispense with the Egyptian product. North America 

 imported in 1910 88 million pounds of Egyptian cotton to the value 

 of 20 million dollars, and it will therefore be understood why the 



