Thaindian News

Kolkata, March 6 (IANS) Inability to diversify uses and grab foreign markets combined with lack of support from the authorities are hindering the progress of West Bengal’s once thriving jute industry. Synthetic substitutes as well as huge labour and production costs add to the sector’s worry, apart from stiff competition from Bangladesh.

“Our jute sector is turning sick because it does not have a guardian. Cotton and sugar industries have lobbyists, but there is no one to protect the interests of the jute industry,” said Sanjay Kajaria, former chairman of the Indian Jute Mill Association.

“Foodgrains are packed in jute bags, but not sugar. Under the Jute Packaging Act it is imperative to pack sugar in jute bags, but the law is being defied. The government is also not taking any action,” Kajaria, who owns the Hastings Jute Mill, told IANS.

According to him, there is a lack of political and administrative will to support the jute sector. He also alleged that major traders were hoarding raw jute to create artificial shortage in the market.

Although the central government had proposed to set up jute parks for manufacturers, no such park came up, Kajaria claimed, adding: despite being eco-friendly, reusable and a natural fibre, use of jute is less than at the level it should have been.

D.P. Nag, secretary of the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI), said: “Bangladesh has utilised green jute in the paper industry and the country is also using the fibre for garments which we could not do. We should be more innovative.”

He also suggested that the ban on polythene should be strictly imposed.

Production of raw jute was about 780,000 bales during 2010-11 in West Bengal, which has 600,000 hectares under jute cultivation. The state has 62 composite jute mills and 1,026 informal registered units producing diversified jute products.

“Around 80 percent of our jute production is used in domestic consumption. We have not caught the foreign markets properly,” added Nag.

Pointing out that Bangladesh has banned the use of polythene bags completely, Bipul Malakar, professor of economics at Jadavpur University, said: “Bangladesh produces jute bags with different colours, decorative bags and decorative carpets on a mass scale. India is lagging behind in these aspects and losing ground in foreign markets.”

According to Jute Manufacturing Development Council secretary Atri Bhattacharya, the industry was facing stiff competition from synthetic substitutes.

The price discount in Bangladesh was also affecting the industry in the state. India’s position as residual seller increased the price of raw jute. Obsolete machinery and high costs of labour and energy have resulted in high prices for finished products.

Bhattacharya said the central government supports organised and decentralised sectors for overall development of the industry and launched a five-year Jute Technology Mission (JTM) for the 11th Five Year Plan between 2007 and 2012.

The National Jute Board (NJB) is responsible for implementation of nine schemes under the mini-mission-IV of the JTM, which deals with the modernisation aspect of the jute mills and diversification of jute products, he added.

The mission aims to raise the modernisation of jute mills from its existing 30 percent level to 55 percent by the end of the JTM period, he said. The mission has also targeted a 15 percent rise in productivity.

“With the implementation of JTM, the share of diversified jute products is expected to increase from the existing level of eight percent to 20 percent once the mission period ends,” Bhattacharya added.

(Mithun Dasgupta can be contacted at mithun.d@ians.in)