Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem on green-friendly jute packaging

Published in The Financial Express on Saturday, 24 May 2014.

Entities failing to comply with jute bag use law to face actions

Arafat Ara

The government will take actions against entities failing to comply with the mandatory jute packaging law from July 01 in a bid to ensure use of jute bags.

State minister for textiles and jute Mirza Azam said mobile courts will start drives in factories, mills and related spots from July 01 to monitor the compliance with the mandatory use of jute bags.

He said if any stakeholder violates the law, he or she will be jailed up to one year or fined Tk 50,000 or both the penalties will be applicable considering the degree of their non-compliance.

If the law is implemented successfully, the total domestic consumption of jute bags will stand at 450 million yearly, according to the ministry estimate.

Rice mills, husking mills and rice traders will have to use around 350 million pieces of jute bags, state-owned food department 50 million and fertiliser factory owners and importers 50 million a year.

But a study by Khondaker Golam Moazzem, a senior research fellow of Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in 2010 showed that the country needs 841 million pieces of jute bags for domestic use yearly.

The study mentioned use of jute bags in packing paddy, wheat, potato, pulses, oil seed, sugar and cement.

Earlier, the ministry published a gazette on implementation of the Jute Packaging Act 2010. The execution date was from January 01, 2014.

The jute state minister said they have taken various programmes to create awareness among the people about usefulness of environment-friendly jute bags.

“We will make publicity campaigns through both electronics and printing media for creating awareness,” Mr Azam added.

Jute bags will have to be used to pack paddy, rice, wheat, maize, fertiliser and sugar, according to the packaging law.

The government’s food department, private rice mills, rice husking mills and rice traders will have to use jute bags to the extent of one hundred per cent of their requirement of packaging materials a year. Besides, fertiliser factory owners and importers will have to use 50 per cent of their needs for such bags.

The government-owned Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) will supply 50 per cent of jute bags and another 50 per cent will be supplied by private sectors including the Bangladesh Jute Mills Association (BJMA) and traders.

Millers said they have sufficient products to meet the local demand.

Moreover, after meeting local and overseas demand, around 325.65 million jute bags will remain unsold as the production capacity of private and public mills is 1.01 billion a year.

The local jute bag sales of the mills were around 101.74 million in the last fiscal year (2012-13) and 334 million bags were used for packing the exported goods.

Humayun Khaled, chairman of the BJMC, said if the law is implemented properly, the mills will get relief from the present crisis. “Following lower international demand for jute bags, the country’s public and private mills are struggling hard to survive”.

Besides, farmers will get fair prices and also will be inspired to cultivate the green product more, he felt.

But Bangladesh Jute Mills Association (BJMA) chairman Shams-uz Zoha said the private mills are not getting equal opportunities in supplying the product.

He said with such a policy, the private mills will not be benefitted and it will be an uneven competition.

Despite the fact that private jute mills are playing the same role as that of public mills, the government did not ensure equal opportunities the mills.

In the beginning, the government gave the same opportunity to both private and public mills, but it changed its decision later.

He, however, said because of inclusion of jute bag traders, dishonest sellers will supply poor quality bags or used bags to factories at cheaper rates. And the millers will lose their customers.

Khondaker Golam Moazzem, senior research fellow of the CPD said if the law is implemented properly, the country’s jute mills can recover from the present difficult situation.

He also said the farmers will get better prices if the mandatory packaging law is implemented.

Mr Moazzem, however, said, the government should take an effective policy against substitute products like plastic and fabric-made bags to implement the mandatory use of jute bags properly.

Due to political turmoil, the requirement of jute bags declined in foreign markets. Six jute mills under the BJMA were closed in the last few months following lower demand and prices of jute bags in the international market, said the association officials.

The Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data showed that the country’s export earnings from jute bags and sacks stood at $92.33 million during the July-April period of FY 2013-14 as against $193.52 million in the corresponding period of FY 2012-13. It registered a 52 per cent lower growth.

About 7.0 million bales of jute are produced in the country every year. Of them, some 4.5-5.0 million bales are usually required for local jute industries and the rest are kept for export.