Home ›› 28 Aug 2021 ›› Front
The jute and jute goods manufacturers have urged the government to take necessary steps for ensuring the mandatory use of jute goods for animal feed packaging in the wake of the feed millers’ continued denial for using it.
As per Jute Packaging Material law 2010, which was enforced in January 2014, the government has made it mandatory for 19 products for using jute goods to promote the country’s jute sector. Animal feed packaging is one of them.
Though the government had earlier made packaging of two more products—poultry and fish feed— in jute bags compulsory, a move that has long been objected by the feed millers in the name of risks of quality deterioration.
However, the Feed Industries Association of Bangladesh had earlier urged the government not to include feeds under mandatory packaging by jute sacks as it would expose the products to moisture, which depreciates the quality.
Jute and jute goods manufacturers also claimed that jute sacks are not suitable for the animal feed packaging and also blamed some government officials for forcing them to use jute sacks “unethically”.
They also said, “We are capable of manufacturing quality bags and sacks for our feed packaging. If the government forces us to use jute sacks, what will happen to our own investment, which has also created huge job creation?”
Currently, the price per 400-gram weight jute sack is around Tk 57, which can carry a 50 kg animal feed. It will need an additional around Tk 30 for lamination purposes. Now, the feed manufacturers are using plastic sacks and polybags which cost only Tk 20, they argued.
Bangladesh is now producing around 11 lakh bale (217.72 Kilograms) raw jute yearly while the country exports around 3 lakh bale of raw jute annually.
Now, Bangladesh needs around 20 crores of sacks and bags for feed packaging and around 200 varieties of bags and sacks used in this sector, which is mostly met by plastic materials.
“We are supplying world-class jute bags to the world and we are number one in producing such sacks. But the question is, are the feed manufacturers really interested in using it? Though the government had made it mandatory to use jute sacks some years ago, they are yet to comply with the government directives,” said Syed Ali Alfe Sany Akash, director of Monami Impex Ltd while talking to The Business Post.
In order to find a way out, the Ministry of Textile and Jute held a meeting with the stakeholders to discuss the issue while Bangladesh Standard Testing Institute asked the jute millers to provide a sample as per the BSTI requirements and two jute millers agreed to develop such samples.
However, the feed manufacturer said, “Even if the BSTI and the government would force us to use it for feed packaging, we will continue to deny it.”
“For animal feed packaging, we need an airtight packet, but the jute sacks and bags are not as such airtight. So, if we start to use it, it will certainly depreciate the quality of the feed within the shortest possible time,” said Md Ihtesham B Shahjahan, president of Feed Industries Association of Bangladesh.
Shahjahan, also the managing director of Quality Feeds Limited, said, “Although the jute mills are not capable of supplying the sacks as per our demand, the prices of jute bags and sacks is around six to eight times higher than the plastic bags.”
But the jute millers argued that soon after lamination of the jute bags or sacks, it will be modified like other airtight bags and if the feed millers start using such bags they are capable of increasing their capacity within a year.
“It is nothing but an excuse only. Our capacity as well as domestic production are good enough to meet domestic demands as around 20 jute mills are now ready to supply bags and sacks,” said A Barik Khan, secretary-general of Bangladesh Jute Mills Associations.
But the feed millers are not supportive of the lamination process. “The government asked us to use jute goods to protect the environment. If we use laminated jute bags or sacks, then what is the benefit?” questioned Shahjahan, managing director of Quality Feeds.
“If the government forces us to use the bags or sacks with laminations, the production cost will not only go up but also the farmers will also incur losses in their business,” he added.
“Our demand is not only to expand our business but also to protect the environment, ensuring a fair price for the farmers. Each year, the farmers produce around three lakh bale raw jute compared to meet the domestic demand,” Esrat Jahan, CEO of Tulika, told The Business Post.
“If the Jute Packaging Material Law is enforced, billions of dollars of investment will come to this sector. Saudi Arabia has already expressed its willingness to invest in our jute industry. So, we have a huge possibility to attract foreign investment and to create jobs. So, we appeal to the government to implement the law and also urge the feed manufacturers to support us so that we can also reduce the prices of jute bags and sacks,” said Esrat, also a director of Bangladesh Jute Goods Exporters Association.
However, secretary of the Ministry of Textile and Jute Md Abdul Mannan said, “We are trying to implement the Jute Packaging Material law for further development of this sector.”
“We are talking to all the stakeholders but using jute sacks in the animal feed sector is now impossible as our state-owned jute mills are now shut. But when these jute mills are reopened by the private companies, our capacity to supply will be enhanced and the ministry will also come forward to take the next course of action,” said the secretary while talking to The Business Post.
