How Africa’s cotton production moved: Egypt’s long rule and West Africa’s rise

  • Egypt dominated African cotton production for decades, from the 1960s to the early 2000s, standing far ahead of other African countries in both volume and quality.
  • The early 2000s marked a major turning point, as West African countries — especially Burkina Faso and Mali — began to overtake Egypt in total production.
  • Burkina Faso emerged as the new cotton leader between 2005 and 2015, topping production in key years like 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2012–2015, and later reclaiming the top spot in 2020 and 2022.
  • Mali built its cotton strength after 2015, becoming Africa’s number one producer multiple times, peaking at over 334,000 tonnes in 2019.
  • Benin and Côte d’Ivoire quietly closed the gap throughout the 2010s, consistently ranking in the top three, even though they didn’t dominate the number one spot.

For decades, Africa’s cotton story wore an Egyptian crown. From the 1960s through the 1990s, Egypt’s fields ruled the continent, peaking at over 540,000 tonnes in1969. But in the early 2000s, the winds shifted. Burkina Faso, Mali, Benin, and Côte d'Ivoire began to claim the throne, leading a West African surge that redefined the cotton race. By 2022, Burkina Faso reclaimed number one, producing over 255,000 tonnes.
Africa’s share of global cotton production grew modestly from 5.31% in 1961 to 5.46% in 2022, adding over 1.1 million tonnes to its annual output but maintaining a relatively small share of the world’s cotton fields.

As of 2022, the cotton leadership race is tighter than ever, with no one country permanently dominant — a sharp contrast to Egypt’s old era.

Source:

Food and Agriculture organization of the UN

Period:

1961-2022
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