Jute Mills facing closure

MULTAN,Feb 14th:Pakistan has potential to export jute products worth Rs.5 billion per annum besides meeting the requirements of Food department and PASSCO if Government give them incentive.Jute industry is the only job oriented industry which was providing jobs to 30,000 people in only ten units.If Government does not forbid the PASSCO and Food departments from purchasing polythene bags then they would be forced to cllose their units redering their workers jobless.It was stated by Pakistan Jute Mills Association Chairman Humayun Mazhar in an exclusive talk today. The jute mills, employing over 30,000 workforce in the country, are going to close, as all government departments have decided to use polybags for packaging, shunning the long-established and eco-friendly practice of packing in jute bags, posing health threat for the consumers.The government departments, including PASCO, Food, and Agriculture Departments have chosen to use polypropylene bags for packaging of wheat grains and other agri goods for their procurement. And in this regards all those departments have issued tenders for the purchase of polypropylene bags from the private sector, forcing the jute bags producers to shut their business.He said that jute bag is 100 percent biodegradable and recyclable and thus environmentally friendly. It is the cheapest vegetable fibre procured from the bast or skin of the plant’s stem. It is the second most important vegetable fibre after cotton, in terms of usage, global consumption, production, and availability. It has high tensile strength, low extensibility, and ensures better breathability of fabrics, he observed.
He said that till 70s all products, including cement and fertilizers were also packed in Hessians.
He pointed out that jute was an important foreign exchange earner for the producing countries during ‘60s. Even during the ‘70s, jute was an important commodity for most of the producing countries. However, during the ‘80s, bulk handling techniques and synthetic substitutes entered the market and jute started losing its predominant position in the market. The types of jute yarn manufactured can be classified according to the application to which they are put i.e. fine yarns, hessian yarns, carpet yarns, sacking yarns, etc.
Twines, ropes, cordages etc. are used for the purpose of tying, knotting, binding etc. particularly agricultural commodities. Hessian, Sacking, Scrim, CBC and Canvas are the most commonly used fabrics of jute. He said. “Our most of the production is utilized by the government for procurement and storage purposes as we use to supply it around 70 percent of our produce. Presently local jute mills running on their half capacity due to wrong policies of the government, as they are producing 1,50,000 ton jute product on average, while their full capacity is around 2,50,000 ton,” He stated: “We are asking the govt to inform us as to how much jute bags will they need so that we manufacture them as it is a lengthy process but it does not seem to interested in jute bags packing, because authorities have not responded us so far since its first tender in Dec last.”He said the PJMA told the govt that polypropylene bags are comparatively cheaper but they cannot be used second time while the jute bags are used 7 to 8 times continually and at the end they are 100 percent biodegradable i.e. when discarded, it decomposes, putting valuable nutrients back into the soil, the chairman remarked. He added that PASCO also said that it has tried the polybag which is dangerous for health. In the same way the Pakistan Standard Institute never approved the polybag for the purpose of packaging.The government has attempted to use polypropylene for packaging but totally failed as it messed up the wheat grain. Therefore, jute is very suitable in agricultural commodity bulk packaging. He said that jute has gained an advantage as being an eco-friendly option instead of poly and paper bags as polybags are made from petroleum and are non-biodegradable and manufacturing paperbags requires large quantities of wood. Jute has none of these problems and are therefore being used widely for these purposes but higher cost is a setback for it. He said that presently in developed countries it is also used for making fashion and promotional bags. Pakistan Jute Mills Association Chairman Humayun Mazhar said that India did scientific study to adopt options other than the jute bags and stated that there is no better way of packaging than the jute.
It made the environment impact assessment and declared that plastic packing is not biodegradable. “There is a package act in India according to which every agricultural product, including grains, will be packed in jute bag, as it could absorb the moisture in the agri items,” he pointed out. He made it clear that if government departments stick to their stance the jute miller would have left no option except shutdown of their mills which are already operating below their capacity.
“We have written so many letters to the several concerned departments to warn them against using polybags but no reply was given from them so far. Likewise we have written also to the Punjab CM to save this industry, he added.
He said currently country exports around Rs 1 billion jute products while the potential of export is over Rs 5 billion and if govt gives us incentives we can achieve this target within three or four years. He said that Bangladesh govt provides 10 percent subsidy to exporters while India gives 7 percent financial support to them, rendering us uncompetitive in the region. He informed the scribe that the jute industry employs 10 times more labour as compared to the spinning industry.