A farm worker stands in a cotton field at Nimrat Al-Basal village in El Mahalla El Kubra, Al-Gharbeya Governorate, holding a large sack filled with freshly harvested long-staple Egyptian cotton bolls. Egyptian long-staple cotton, historically known as 'white gold' (Dahab Abyad), is among the finest cotton varieties in the world and a historically significant agricultural export crop. El Mahalla El Kubra is a major center of Egypt's cotton and textile industry, with the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company being one of the largest textile manufacturers in the Middle East and Africa.