The government would assess the production, consumption and demand of raw jute and then decide whether jute exports should be banned. The textiles and jute ministry on Sunday took the decision at a meeting with leaders of Bangladesh Jute Spinners’ Association and Bangladesh Jute Mills Association which recently demanded imposition of a ban on raw jute export. A ministry official said that the Jute spinners on August 18 demanded to impose a ban on export of raw jute as they have been forced to keep the production in their mills for only two days in a week due to shortage of raw jute. The state minister for textiles and jute Mirza Azam on Sunday held a meeting with the leaders of jute sector at his office. ‘At the meeting we decided to assess the production and local demands of jute. After getting the report the ministry would take the next course of action,’ Nasima Begum, joint secretary of textiles and Jute ministry, told New Age. According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics data, about 75 lakh bales of jute are annually produced in Bangladesh. Local consumption of raw jute stands at about 50 lakh bales while the export raw jutes stands at about 20 lakh bales. Nasima, however, said that the BBS statistics showed somewhat old figures and could not reflect current situation. She said that jute ministry in collaboration with ministry of agriculture and other department concerned would make final assessment of the country’s raw jute production, local demand and consumption. The assessment would be completed within a month, she said. According to the Export promotion Bureau data, the export of raw jute in the first month of FY16 increased by 874.14 per cent to US$ 10.06 million from US$ 1.03 million in the same month of FY15. The sector people said that the demand for raw jute in India increased heavily as production of jute was hampered in the country this year. Jute spinners expressed their worry over the export of raw jute in huge quantity and said not only in India, Bangladesh also witnessed low production of jute this year and mill owners will have to face shortage of raw jute.
