DOT Desk: The country’s jute sector is passing through a rough time due to a fall in exports, reports The Daily Sun.
During the July-December of 2018-19 fiscal year, jute and jute products exporters fetched around $421 million. The export figure is 27 per cent lower than the corresponding period a year ago.
If this sluggish trend continues, the jute sector is likely to miss the $1.85 billion export target set for the 2018-19 fiscal.
In 2017-18 fiscal, the jute sector for the first time entered the billion-dollar club by exporting products worth at $1.02 billion, ushering in new hopes for this thriving sector.
Sector insiders said a fall in demand in the key export destinations and lack of product diversification are the main reasons behind the nosedive in the exports of jute and jute products.
Bangladesh Jute Good Exporters Association (BJGEA) vice-chairman Lutfor Rahman said Turkey, Russia and Iran are the main export destinations for Bangladesh’s jute and jute goods.
But the buyers from these countries have lowered their volume of purchase, resulting in a decrease in export income this fiscal.
Bangladesh mainly exports three kinds of jute and jute goods—- raw jute, jute yarn and twine, and jute sacks and bags to different countries around the world.
In the last six months of the current fiscal, the jute sector bagged $65 million from the exports of raw jute, $257 million from yarn and twine, and $49 from sacks and bags.
Over the last decade, the country’s jute sector was benefited from a substantial rise in the use of natural fibre by giant automobile companies.
The global car industry needs about 100,000 tonnes of jute a year, of which 12,000 tonnes go from Bangladesh.
Sector insiders said that local manufacturers produce around 10 lakh tonnes of jute goods —- yarn and twine, sacks and bags. Bangladesh ships around 7-8 lakh tonnes of jute and jute products annually.
They said there is a huge demand for jute and jute products in 60 countries across the world but Bangladesh’s jute sector is failing to tap the potential due to a lack of proper branding and proper diversification.
However, Bangladesh’s jute exports saw a steep rise in the last five year. Jute exports stood at $824 million in 2013-14 fiscal, $868.53 million in 2014-15 fiscal, $919.58 million in 2015-16 fiscal, and $962.42 million in 2017-18 fiscal, according to the data of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
Bangladesh is now exporting jute and jute products to Canada, Japan, Indonesia, India, Austria, Afghanistan, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Algeria, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Congo, Costa Rica, Egypt, Italy, Germany, Malaysia, Irelands, Iran, Myanmar, Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, the UK, Vietnam, Portugal, Libya, Morocco, Mexico, Gambia, Uganda, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, the USA, Ethiopia and Guatemala.