Home ›› 19 Jul 2021 ›› News
Arifur Rahaman Tuhin
Jute goods exporters called for suspending exports of raw jute till December this year to meet the domestic demands as the prices of raw jute went up due to supply shortage.
On July 14, the leaders Bangladesh Jute Goods Exporters Association (BJGEA) in letter placed to the Jute and Textile Minister made the urge.
The exports came up with the urgent call-in face of supply shortage, they are facing since last season.
“If the government suspends the exports till December 2021, it will stabilize the raw jute supply in the domestic market, which created last year due to rise in high volume exports. This is badly needed to save the domestic industry,” said the letter.
“You know, because of the lack of raw jute, hundreds of jute mills stop their production before the previous season. On the other hand, around 5 lakh ton raw jute was exported. Due to low supply, its price went around 3 times higher from available times,” Mohammad Shafiqul Islam, Chairman of BJGEA told The Business Post.
“We are waiting for a government response for the interest of the industry, the government should take initiative,” he added.
Talking to the stakeholder, in the last years they faced a raw jute crisis due to low supply. In this season the government informed a total of 74.14 lakh tons of raw jute cultivated, but jute mill owners claimed it is the highest 55 lakh tons. The country’s total demand is 65 lakh tons.
Besides that, another 4 to 5 lakh tons were used for other works. For the upcoming season, the government set an 86-lakh tons raw jute target. But in case of heavy rain or long-time floods, it may reduce. However, the government expects after cultivating total raw jute production may reach 90 lakh bales, if the environment remains as the present.
On the other hand, Jute mill owners said, prediction never be the basis of a decision. Jute harvesting time will start from next time and after September, we may primarily say, how much raw Jute is cultivated.
“And within December, we will have a real scenario of raw Jute, then the government may decide how many raw Jutes would be exported,” Mahbubur Rahman Patwary, Chairman of Bangladesh Jute Mills Association (BJMA) told The Business Post. “But the sad thing is, we sent a letter last year to postpone raw jute export until December, but the government did not care about it. As a result, most of our miller compiled stopped their production on raw jute crisis in the pandemic period. Others bought it at a high price,” he added.
Patwari said, “If the government will not take initiative, we will face the same crisis and the local market will go to the smuggler. We and farmers have not benefited from it.”
In the pandemic period, the jute sector gave a good performance on export.
According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh exported $1,161 million jute and jute goods products in the FY2020-21 with 31.63 per cent growth. In the fiscal year 2019-20, it was $883 million.
However, the exporters claimed the worth of exports showing higher due to the high price of raw jute. When the country’s raw jute price went high, they adjusted it for finished goods. But if the figure is measured by quantity, it looks decrees.
“The situation has become such that buyers give us pressure to reduce the cost of the product, but how could we do it? Even paying high prices, we cannot arrange jute fabrics timely due to low supply,” said Esrat Jahan, CEO of Tulika and director of BJGEA.
The buyer gives us limited work orders due to high prices. We have minimum profit merging and its decrees on comparison of the 2019-20 season. If it would happen again, they (buyer) may source from India or others,” She added.
