Several Egyptian clothing units have halved production, while many others have stopped production altogether, according to the Readymade Garments Chamber chief Mohamed Abdel Salam, who recently said this dramatic slowdown is due to a projected decline in market demand for the Fall season. A massive overstock of summer clothing sat for months in factories.

Egyptian factories have hardly sold 30 per cent of their summer season stock over the past three months.

The demand for apparel is not expected to exceed half of the normal rate this fall, amid expectations that a second wave of the novel coronavirus will force the country into another lockdown, keeping people home and killing in-store shopping, Salam was quoted as saying by an Egyptian newspaper.

Many Egyptians turned to online shopping amid the pandemic, with the country’s e-commerce sector already steadily rising pre-pandemic.

Global e-commerce giant Amazon announced in September that it plans to manufacture more of its products in Egypt, as well as attract more Egyptian companies to market their products through Amazon’s electronic platforms – particularly with ready-to-wear clothes, household items, plastics, and electronic device accessories.

According to the Apparel Export Council of Egypt, textile exports dropped by 29 per cent in the first semester of the year and a 40 per cent decline in production is imminent.