Arafa Holding, Egypt's biggest garment exporter, has closed its factories in Tenth of Ramadan City till February 17 due to labour strikes, the firm said in a statement on Tuesday.

Twenty-five percent of the 6,000 workers at the company's Tenth of Ramadan City factories, went on strike today, the statement said.

The factories, located on the outskirts of Cairo, would be closed until management looks into the workers' demands, the firm said, and would resume operations on February 19 should the situation stabilise.

Workers across Egypt, emboldened by the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak and angered by low wages and poor working conditions, have staged strikes over the last week.

Egypt Egypt Management