Roundtable on “Policy and Planning for Development of Jute and Jute Industries,” organised by Jute Protection Committee and ActionAid on Monday, 18 August 2014.
Published in Dhaka Tribune on Tuesday, 19 August 2014.
Jute Packaging Act still at low threshold
Rafe Sadnan Adel
More subsidiaries are needed to mobilise the sector as the demands for jute products are on the rise nationally and internationally
Despite the fact that the demand for jute products in both national and international markets gains momentum, the Mandatory Jute Packaging Act 2010 is yet to be implemented properly even four years after the act came into being, discussants said yesterday at a roundtable in the city.
They observed that the implementation of the act is not up to the mark to make the industry viable.
The observation came at a roundtable discussion jointly organised by the Jute Protection Committee and ActionAid at the National Press Club in the city.
The stakeholders and businessmen who attended the programme called into question the poor implementation procedure which is a bar to the sustainability of jute industry.
More subsidiaries are needed to mobilise the sector as the demands for jute products are on the rise nationally and internationally, the discussants pointed out.
In his address at the roundtable, ActionAid Deputy Director Aamanur Rahman appreciated the jute act.
He said this is high time the authorities concerned paid the highest attention to once golden fiber of Bangladesh as the European market turns to the environmentally friendly jute products.
In his speech, Khondaker Golam Moazzem, a researcher from Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said every year the demand for jute products is rising at the rate of 7% worldwide.
He suggested making a long-term plan to bring in success in jute industry.
Most participants at the discussion advocated for reduction of the production costs of the jute-based products to make the industry more competitive and sustainable.
Director of Marketing Babul Chandra Roy of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) confirmed that they are trying their best to implement the act.
He deplored the fact that rice and sugar mills are reluctant to use jute sacks. Babul called upon the private sectors to come up with initiatives.
He said nowadays China seems disinterested in the jute sector and so Bangladesh can cash in on the situation.
State Minister for Textile and Jute Mirza Azam was present at the roundtable.
He said the Awami League government wants to promote the jute industry and it is concentrating on quick implementation of the Mandatory Jute Packaging Act.
The state minister admitted that the implementation of the act was at a slow pace in the past, but said now the government is trying to do its best.
“We have already ordered the district commissioners across the country to set up mobile courts at regular intervals and take legal action if anyone violets the act.”
During 80s and 90s most jute factories in the country were shut following the prescription of World Bank and IMF, but Bangladesh has recently decided to regain the lost glory of its golden fiber, Jute.
Published in The Daily Star
Focus on proper enforcement of jute packaging law
Star Business Report
More than 50 percent of domestic production of jute will be consumed locally if the mandatory jute packaging act is implemented properly, according to an estimate of local think-thank Centre for Policy Dialogue.
“The jute industry is highly dependent on exports, which can be reduced substantially by ensuring full implementation of the compulsory jute packaging act,” CPD Additional Research Director Khondaker Golam Moazzem said yesterday.
He spoke at a discussion organised by the Jute Protection Committee in association with Action Aid at the National Press Club in the city.
The event focused on polices and planning for the development of the jute industry, which employs around 40 lakh farmers and 150,000 workers.
Around 5.39 lakh tonnes of raw jute out of the 9.56 lakh tonnes produced in Bangladesh in 2009-10 would be required to pack food grains, cement and sugar to be fully compliant with the packaging law, CPD estimated in a study in 2010.
Currently, three-fourths of the domestically-produced jute are exported either in raw or processed forms due to low domestic use.
The government passed the mandatory jute packaging law in 2010 to help the jute millers and growers come out of losses due to its falling demand in the global market.
However, traders and millers continued ignoring the law in the absence of enforcement.
The Department of Jute has recently started a mobile court drive to compel the millers and traders to use jute sacks to pack rice for marketing domestically.
Moazzem said the government has to take strict measures to ensure full implementation of the law.
“It is very important considering the present situation of the industry,” he said, stressing the need for reducing jute production cost to provide local buyers with jute bags at low prices to increase its use.
“The sector should be made competitive.”
The jute industry has been suffering from an acute downturn in export earnings because of the Middle East crisis and a slump in demand in Africa, Thailand and India in the last one year.
Export receipts fell 20 percent year-on-year to $824 million in 2013-14, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau. Export earnings continued falling in the opening month of 2014-15 with a 24 percent year-on-year decline to $61 million.
“Our mills will run well if jute sacks are used to pack rice,” said Babul Chandra Roy, director for marketing at Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC), which runs state-jute mills.
The use of polythene has to be stopped to ensure use of jute bags, said Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association.
“The jute packaging law cannot be implemented without banning the use of polythene,” she said, adding that the government had earlier allocated Tk 25 crore to clear deposits of polythene from the river bed of Buriganga. Rizwana recommended framing master plan for the jute industry.
A lot of money will be required to clear polythene from the beds of rivers, said Mirza Azam, state minister for textiles and jute. “Except for some businessmen, almost all nationals support the compulsory jute packaging act.”
The increased use of jute bag is necessary to protect the environment, Azam said.
“Increased domestic consumption of jute sacks will boost its demand and thus contribute to increase its prices,” Azam said, citing that buyers are offering low prices for jute. The ministry will formulate a plan for the whole industry, he said.
The technology of state-run mills has not long been upgraded, which now hurts the mills’ productivity, said Shahidullah Chowdhury, president of Bangladesh Trade Union Centre and a member of the Jute Protection Committee.
Published in Daily Sun
Speakers for reducing cost of jute goods production
Staff Correspondent
Speakers at a roundtable on Monday called upon the government and stakeholders to take initiative reduce the production cost of jute goods to make it popular to the users.
They also urged the government for adopting a master plan outlining the details on export, local and international markets for jute and jute products in order to bring the golden era of jute back.
Mentioning that the production cost of jute goods will appear as one of the main hindrances to the growth of the sector, Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Additional Research Director, CPD said, “If production cost of jute goods is not reduced, the neighboring countries like India, after importing raw jutes from here at lower rates would export jute goods in Bangladesh with small value addition at lower costs, which will make the local competitors harder to cope up with.
They were speaking at a roundtable titled Policy and Planning for Development of Jute and Jute Industries held at the conference room of National Press Club on Monday.
Pat and Pat Shilpo Rokkhya Committee (Jute and Jute Industry Protection Committee) in association with Actionaid Bangladesh arranged the programme. A master plan which will include the details of the local and international markets of jute goods, its future plan, condition of the jute growers and specific steps of the government is needed to bring the golden history of jute back, said Sayed Rezwana Hasan, of BELA.
State Minister for Jute and Textile Mirza Azam MP addressed the programme as special guest with Shahidullah Chowdhury, member of Jute and Jute Industry Protect Committee in the chair.