BJA Chairman Sheikh Sayed Ali voiced the demand during a press conference at the Humayun Kabir Balu auditorium of Khulna Press Club (KPC). The BJA chairman claimed the Bangladesh Jute Spinners Association was trying to stop raw jute exports by submitting recommendations to impose tariffs of Tk800 for each maund jute export to the Textile and Jute Ministry, giving wrong information on the jute crisis. Presenting statistics from the Directorate of Jute, BJA Chairman Sheikh Sayed Ali said the government has targeted to produce 9,238,000 bales of jute in FY2020-2021. Later, the production target was revised to 8,414,000 bales due to ongoing flooding, he said, adding that the country’s internal raw jute demand is at least 5,500,000 bales a year, of which state-owned jute mills require 1,300,000 bakes while private jute and spinning jute mills demand around 4,200,000 bales. However, he also said the country’s current internal demand for raw jute is at maximum 4,500,000 bales, as the state-run jute mills are closed.

Source: Dhaka Tribune August 30, 2020 12:33 UTC