Indefinite ban imposed on raw jute export

Following a month-long ban, the government on Thursday imposed fresh ban on export of raw jute for an indefinite period to ensure supply of jute to the local jute mills and to implement the Mandatory Jute Packaging Act 2010.
The ministry of textiles and jute issued a fresh circular imposing ban on raw jute for an indefinite period as the tenure of ban for one month ended on Thursday—which was imposed on November 2—through a circular of the ministry.
The ministry issued the circular signed by Baby Parvin, a senior assistant secretary, saying that for proper implementation of Mandatory Jute Packaging Act-2010 under Section 4 and 13 of the Jute Ordinance 1962, the export of raw jute would remain suspended until further notice.
Jute exporters, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the government decision and said that the ban for indefinite period would hurt the jute exporters and traders badly.
They demanded compensation for the losses they would incur for the decision, saying that the sector people already incurred a loss of over Tk 100 crore in last one month.
Recently, the textile and jute ministry started a drive across the country to implement the mandatory jute packaging act.
During the drive, mobile courts fined traders for not packaging rice, fertilizer and other products with jute bags.
Earlier, jute spinners at a meeting with the textiles and jute ministry demanded that the government should impose a ban on export of raw jute as they had been forced to keep production suspended at their mills for two days in a week due to a shortage of raw jute.
In the meeting, the textiles and jute ministry had taken a decision to assess production, consumption and demand for raw jute before imposing any ban on export.
The ministry had also issued an order asking the traders not to stock more than 1,000 maunds of jute at a time for over a month.
Despite the move by the ministry to ensure supply of raw jute, the decision was not implemented at the field level due to lack of monitoring by the officials of jute directorate, traders said.
According to the source, the government has decided to suspend export of raw jute for the time being, mainly to break the syndicate of stockists.
‘We hoped that the government will withdraw the ban after one month but we are surprised to see that the ban has been extended for an indefinite period,’ Rezaul Karim, former chairman of Bangladesh Jute Association, told New Age on Thursday.
‘Although we are not against implementation of mandatory jute packaging act, the government on its part should consider the loss of the exporters and traders,’ he said.
Rezaul, also the chairman of the Shippers’ Council of Bangladesh, demanded immediate withdrawal of ban on export of raw jute, saying that traders already incurred loss over Tk 100 crore in last one month as they could not ship their consignments to the buyers.
According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics data, about 75 lakh bales of jute are annually produced in Bangladesh. Local consumption of raw jute stands at about 50 lakh bales while about 20 lakh bales of raw jute are exported.
The Export Promotion Bureau data showed that the export earnings from raw jute in the financial year 2014-15 stood at US$ 111.57 million.

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