Jute will regain its lost glory: analysts

Star (March 15, 2011)

 

Jute can revive its lost glory of 'golden fibre' in future if the government provides policy support to the development of the sector, said an economist yesterday.

“The prospects of jute and jute goods in Bangladesh are huge because the global market has shown an upward trend in jute use,” said Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, chairman of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation.
“As more countries are making efforts to mitigate the climate change fallout, they are opting for use of jute goods more because these are bio-degradable and environment-friendly,” he added.
He spoke at a daylong workshop on jute and its future, co-organised by Tradecraft Exchange, a UK-based development charity, Tarango, a local development organisation and Katalyst at the IDB auditorium in Dhaka yesterday.
Speaking as the chief guest, Ahmad said jute should not be treated as a minor sector because around four crore people are involved in it directly or indirectly. He also called for diversifying the country's export basket by reviving the jute industry.
Kazi Shahed Ferdous, country director of Tradecraft Exchange, said: “Our main focus is to promote small-scale sustainable agriculture and jute. Tradecraft has started a second project to work on the entire value chain of jute.
Speaking as a special guest, Jean Claude Malongo, programme manager of economic cooperation for the Delegation of the European Commission to Bangladesh, said the project aims at helping the expansion of capacity of jute producers which ultimately will boost exports to the EU market.
The jute sector had a glorious past in the 1960s-1970s, but began losing its glory due to the government's policy as advised by the World Bank and IMF during the period 1992-2008, said Ahmad.
But, the good news is, the government has laid emphasis on the jute sector by establishing the Jute Commission and putting in place the Mandatory Jute Packaging Act 2010.
According to the law, manufacturers have to use packaging materials made of jute fibre for up to 75 percent of products such as rice, paddy, wheat, sugar, seeds, fertilisers and saplings.
The discussants, however, pointed to some problems -- poor implementation of the mandatory packaging law, unavailability of quality raw material, and delivery of jute fabrics and cotton.
Innovation Bangladesh Ltd, one of the leading consulting houses in Bangladesh, also disseminated the research finding on jute diversified products or non-conventional jute products which are made of pulp, fibre and yarn.
Extrapolation suggests that exports and domestic sales of jute diversified products accounted for over Tk 100 crore in 2009.
They said the potential domestic market for jute-diversified products is more than 300 percent of the current domestic market because most corporate houses are giving more emphasis on environment friendly products.
The study said only visiting card segment has a market of nearly Tk 55 crore.