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The government is set to launch a special drive against illegal stockpiles of raw jute to ensure a smooth supply in the domestic market and enable mills to make jute goods for export, the textiles and jute ministry said yesterday.
Golam Dastagir Gazi, minister of textiles and jute, made the announcement during a meeting with top leaders of the Bangladesh Jute Association (BJA), Bangladesh Jute Mills Association (BJMA), and Bangladesh Jute Spinners Association (BJSA).
The declaration came amid allegations from millers that traders were stockpiling raw jute in a bid to artificially increase prices, causing a decline in the shipment of jute goods.
In the face of rising raw jute prices, millers and spinners collectively decided that they would not buy the natural fibre for more than Tk 3,000 per maund from January 20.
According to millers and traders, each maund (about 37 kilogrammes) of raw jute is selling at Tk 3400 to Tk 3600. However, they retracted their decision following the objections of spinners.
In a statement, the textiles and jute minister said that production at jute mills hit a snag due to a dearth of raw fibres.
“The government will take stern action against dishonest hoarders in order to maintain the supply trend of exporting jute and jute goods from Bangladesh,” he said.
“The Department of Jute has been directed to take the necessary measures, such as prohibiting unlicensed dishonest traders from buying and selling raw materials and prohibiting the sale and purchase of wet jute,” Gazi added.
As such, raw jute dealers or storekeepers will not be able to stock more than 1,000 maunds of raw jute for more than one month. The effective measures have been taken to ensure proper seed supply for jute cultivation in the current season.
Gazi also said that the agriculture ministry, in collaboration with the textiles and jute ministry, has developed a five-year roadmap to achieve self-sufficiency in standard jute-seed production.
The first phase of the programme will begin this year and if everything goes as planned, Bangladesh will be self-sufficient in improved jute seed production by 2025, with no future seed imports.
Under the Annual Development Programme (ADP), the textiles ministry has undertaken a project titled “an advanced technology-based jute and jute seed production and expansion” to achieve autarky in high yielding jute seed production, and motivate and assist farmers in producing quality jute.
The project is being carried out in 230 upazilas across 46 districts in the country, Gazi said.
All project farmers will receive free high-yield jute seed fertilisers and other agricultural machinery, including pesticides, he added.
Contacted, Md Abul Hossain, chairman of the BJMA, said they sat with the minister yesterday and had a fruitful discussion.
“We demanded the implementation of the Jute Law 2017. We have been able to convince Gazi, who assured us that stern action would be taken soon,” he said.
“We are not against the farmers, we just want to fight against some dishonest profiteers who have made huge profits by illegally hoarding raw jute and selling them at exorbitant prices by creating an artificial crisis in the market,” Hossain added.
Hossain also told The Daily Star that they took the decision but spinners were the ones to refuse it.
However, he mentioned that raw jute prices are now around Tk 3,500 per maund.
Earlier on January 25, the top leaders of jute mills said they were passing an exceptional situation as they had already lost around 40 per cent of their market share in Turkey due to the scarcity of raw jute.
According to the Export Promotion Bureau, earnings from jute and jute goods declined 12 per cent year-on-year to $590 million in the July-December period of 2021-22.
Arzu Rahman, senior vice-chairman of the BJA, said the textiles and jute minister assured about taking immediate action, saying that the ministry has called an emergency meeting tomorrow (today) with different stages of government officials for giving direction against the dishonest and unlicensed hoarders who are making an artificial crisis.
“The most mishandling of hoarders’ activities have been going on for the last two years due to the negligence of the local and central administrations,” he said.
“If the ministry fails to take strict action, then we have to face a tough situation as foreign buyers are shifting their attention away from our jute products to alternative items after failing to buy the goods at their stipulated prices,” Rahman added.
(TDS)
