Germany was one of the main importers of East African minerals and primary agricultural products. East African cotton, in particular, held an important position in Germany's textile industry.
At present, nearly all the raw materials for Germany's cotton textile industry came from imports. Germany's cotton textile industry ranked first in continental Europe and fourth in the world. Previously, Germany's cotton imports had mainly come from Britain and the United States, but after East Africa's cotton-growing industry developed, East Africa had become Germany's largest source of imported cotton.
Germany imported roughly one billion pounds of cotton every year, a figure that had continued to grow until 1907. East Africa's current total cotton output stood at around 2.3 billion pounds, of which nearly 400 million pounds were exported to Germany each year. Together with nearly 700 million pounds exported to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and exports to major cotton-importing countries such as Tsarist Russia, East Africa exported more than one billion pounds of cotton annually—roughly 400,000 to 500,000 tons. Central and Eastern European countries were East Africa's main market.
Therefore, the European economic crisis would have a major impact on East Africa's exports of primary agricultural products. Of course, East African cotton cultivation had clearly dealt a tremendous blow to the global cotton industry, with the United States and Britain suffering the greatest impact. Britain possessed large-scale cotton-growing industries in both India and Egypt, placing it in direct competition with East Africa.
Fortunately, East Africa and Britain had already fought the South African War long ago. Simply suppressing East Africa's cotton-growing and textile industries would have been enough for Britain to find an excuse for war. After the South African War, East Africa had indeed placed enormous pressure on traditional agricultural-exporting nations in the agricultural sector.
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