The government plans to revive and popularize the lost glory of golden fibre - jute.
Jute is turning out to be an important natural and environment friendly raw material for multifarious use. As its demand is increasing at home and abroad in the backdrop of the global awareness towards ‘green’ solutions.
Although the government has taken a special initiative for quality production and diversification of jute products, but the jute product export earnings has not registered significant progress.
The export earnings of jute and jute goods have decreased by 1.96 percent which stood at $326.47 million during July-October of the current fiscal 2022-23 while it was $332.98 million during the corresponding period of the last year.
The export earnings from this sector stood at to $1.12 billion in 2021-22. In early 20th century, jute was the main source of foreign earn
ings in East Bengal as it was the only exportable product in the country during the time.
After the partition of India in 1947, there had been a significant change in the jute business. In the 1950s, the industry began its journey in the East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, with the establishment of jute processing mills in Narayanganj and Khulna.
However, the jute started losing its prominence over the course of time as use of much cheaper polythene and other synthetic materials took over the market as an alternative to jute, resulting in closure of many jute mills, including the country’s largest Adamjee jute mills.
