Kolkata, Jan. 17 Jute bags imported from Nepal and Bangladesh are being used for packaging foodgrain and sugar, thereby hurting the domestic jute industry already hit hard by the ongoing strike by jute mills workers and the dilution in the mandatory Jute Packaging Materials (Compulsory Use in Packaging Commodities) Act 1987 (JPMA), according to Mr Sanjay Kajaria, Chairman, Indian Jute Mills' Association (IJMA).
IJMA has written to the Jute Commissioner urging him to take stock of the situation and ban the entry of such imported bags into the country.
‘Ministry silent'
The association had written to the Textile Ministry in December 2009, drawing its attention to large-scale imports of jute bags and their impact on the domestic jute industry.
“No proper measure has been taken till date,” Mr Kajaria told Business Line.
The jute bags are primarily being imported from Bangladesh and Nepal where the domestic demand is small, he observed. Close to one lakh tonnes of jute bags are imported from Nepal and Bangladesh on an annual basis, he said. Use of imported bags for packaging foodgrain is against the principles of JPMA, he added.
Huge loss
Non-implementation of the Tariff Commission report has resulted in an industry-wide loss of about Rs 3,962 a tonne daily and a cumulative loss of about Rs 256 crore in the past eight years since 2001, Mr Kajaria said, drawing attention to the various problems confronting the domestic jute industry at present.
“We recently wrote to the West Bengal Chief Minister urging him to resolve the problems in the interest of the industry and its labour,” he said.
The Textile Ministry has also recommended a 20 per cent dilution (about 3.81 lakh bales) of packaging reservation order in favour of synthetic sacks for Rabi Marketing Season 2010-11, setting aside the Union Cabinet's decision of continuing with 100 per cent reservation norms for the current jute year, he pointed out.
The State Government, Mr Kajaria said, should also launch a de-hoarding drive to flush out the illegally stored raw jute by speculators and make it available to the mills.
“The current raw jute price is ruling at over Rs 5,000 a tonne and this is primarily because of massive hoarding and the industry lacks the capacity to buy at such high prices,” he said.
Source : Business Line