Exports of jute and jute goods maintained a steady growth as the country earned US$661.8 million in the first seven months (July-January) of the current fiscal year (FY2017-18), up 17.36 per cent from the previous fiscal (FY2016-17). In FY2016-17, the country earned $563.9 million by exporting jute and jute goods during the same period, reports BSS. According to the state-run Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), income from raw jute export were $95.5 million during July-January period of FY2017-18, from jute yarn and kundali were $414.6 million, from jute sac and bag were $92.5 million and from other jute products were $70.3 million. “There is a huge demand for jute and jute goods of Bangladesh in around 60 countries. But we are failing to exploit this huge export potentials properly because our jute products are not diversified,” said chairman of the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) Mahmudul Hasan. Talking to the news agency, he said the present government had taken special measures to produce quality jute and diversify jute products. Along with extending policy support, the government has increased cash incentives for diversifying jute products, he added. “Cash incentives have been increased to 20 per cent for export-oriented diversified jute products. As a result, exports of diversified jute products have increased many times,” said Hasan. He said that the people across the world are increasingly becoming conscious about the benefits of the use of natural fibre and are showing interest to use jute products. Considering the rising demand of jute goods, Bangladesh is also producing new diversified jute products to attract the foreign buyers, he added. Measures have already been taken to collect quality jute seeds for increasing jute production so that the jute growers become interested in growing jute on a large scale. He said that steps have also been taken to install modern equipment in jute mills in the public sector for the production of diversified goods. According to BJMC, there are 22 jute mills are in operation under the public sector, while the number of jute mills in the private sector is around 200.
