KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MoIC) has signed a $25 million agreement with a Chinese firm to export cotton thread to China.
In a newsletter, the ministry announced that the contract was signed in the presence of Taliban Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, with the Chinese company Shanghai Khuban Textile Company, to export 10,000 tons of cotton thread to China.
Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, many Chinese companies have expressed interest in investing in the country, with several having signed significant contracts with the Taliban in recent years.
In January 2023, the Taliban signed their first international deal with the Chinese company Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co (CAPEIC) to extract oil from the Amu Darya basin in northern Afghanistan.
The deal requires the Chinese petroleum company to invest $150 million annually in Afghanistan, with the total expected to reach $540 million over three years.
Meanwhile, Chinese officials report a surge in bilateral trade between China and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, reaching a record high of $1.33 billion last year, marking a significant year-on-year increase of 125.45%.
Cotton thread, production of which has reportedly increased in Afghanistan in recent years, has become one of the key items exported to China from this landlocked agricultural country.
Last year, the Taliban Ministry of Industry and Commerce reported that Afghanistan exported $168 million worth of cotton to other countries, including China, in the year 1401.
“The majority of the cotton we exported from Afghanistan is to Uzbekistan, China, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, and Germany, and the amount of our exports is about $168 million,” the ministry said.
Earlier, the Taliban Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock (MAIL) reported a 41% increase in cotton production over the past solar year, reaching over 122,000 metric tons.
Following the Taliban’s ban on poppy cultivation, the majority of farmers across Afghanistan, especially in provinces like Helmand, Balkh, Nangarhar, and Kandahar, are now focusing on harvesting and producing cotton, according to the Taliban ministry.
