Kolkata Apr 19 PTI Asserting that the jute industry is on the verge of collapse endangering the livelihood of three crore people engaged in this sector Trinamool Congress Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha Sukhendu Sekhar Ray sought the intervention of the Centre to resolve the crisisFor this situation Ray blamed the Jute Commissioners Office which looks after orderly development and promotion of the industry in IndiaThe Rajya Sabha MP wrote separate letters to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Textile Minister Piyush Goyal seeking their help to resolve the problemHe claimed that 60000 workers have lost their jobs following the closure of 15 jute mills owing to raw jute crisis allegedly due to government diktat on pricingFrom November 2021 the Jute Commissioners Office is engaged in an unhealthy battle with Bengals jute industry on the capping of raw jute price at Rs 6500 per quintal while the industry demand is Rs 7200 per quintal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has publicly opposed the cap imposed by the Jute Commissioner on 30 September 2021 but it has not been removed Ray said in the letters The state government had also requested the Commissioner to raise the ceiling to Rs 7200 a quintal he saidInstead of searching for a solution the Jute Commissioner for the past few months is engaged in a legal battle with the jute industry the TMC MP saidRay highlighted that the 2022-23 report of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices also painted a gloomy picture saying acreage of jute has been declining for the last three years and supply has been reduced by 11 per centThe stock to user ratio SUR has also fallen by 84 per cent and jute yield is stagnant for the last five years There is a 70 per cent shortage of credible jute seeds needed for robust cultivation he saidRay urged both the ministers to intervene and save cultivators workers and the jute industry as a whole in public interest PTI BSM NN NN

Kolkata Dec 19 PTI The jute sector has suffered a notional loss of Rs 1500 crore due to dilution of 481 lakh bales of hessian bag orders in favour of plastic materials for foodgrain packaging during the ongoing season industry sources said on Sunday The dilution was witnessed despite the support of the Centre and the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal a major jute producing state they said In November and December there was a dilution of 48 lakh bales of jute bags as millers were not able to supply that quantity of packaging material This resulted in an estimated loss of Rs 1500 crore an industry source told PTI The Narendra Modi government had in November approved reservation norms for mandatory use of hessian sacks in packaging for the jute year 2021-22 The norms provide for 100 per cent reservation of foodgrains and 20 per cent of sugar to be compulsorily packed in jute bags The Centre decided to protect the interest of domestic raw jute producers after the West Bengal government had requested it not to dilute the mandatory packaging order another industry source said However the Standing Advisory Committee on packaging of foodgrains in jute bags had recommended dilution of the order The PM and the CM have extended full support but the problem is with the ceiling price of raw jute which is the major bottleneck to increase production of the packaging material a miller said on condition of anonymity Elaborating on the problem that mills are facing he said the prevailing market price of raw jute is around Rs 7200 per quintal while the Jute Commissioners Office had imposed a ceiling price of Rs 6500 per quintal for sourcing the raw material for mills We are unable to procure the raw material at the fixed price and thus production and supply of the hessian bags got hampered he said Jute mills were supposed to supply 250 lakh bales of bags in November and 231 lakh bales in December but they failed to do so as there was chaos in the market over fixing of raw jute price the sources said The total annual purchase of jute bags by the Centre and the state agencies is around Rs 12000 crore Currently the running price of one bale of gunny bags 1 bale is equal to 500 jute bags is around Rs 31000 Indian Jute Mills Association revised its supply commitment from 1625 lakh bales to 135 lakh bales for Rabi marketing season 2022-23 as the raw material issues may further affect production of mills the sources said The Jute Commissioners Office however has allayed fear of any crisis and pointed out that there is no shortfall in the production The government has already started buying jute bags for Rabi crops but there was a backlog of 3 lakh bales which was supposed to be supplied for the Kharif season before November 1 an IJMA official said During the 2022-23 season millers can supply up to 285 lakh bales while the total annual jute bag requirement of the government will be around 4588 lakh bales of which 268 lakh bales are meant for rice and 1908 lakh bales for wheat they said According to an expert committee the raw jute production is pegged at 85-90 lakh bales during the year Jute mills are expected to consume 70 lakh bales while industrial consumption would be around 10 lakh bales and exports are likely to be two lakh bales PTI BSM BDC BDC