The Union Textiles Ministry has rejected a suggestion by the Jute Commissioner to lower the use of jute bags in 2017-18. The Jute Commissioner had recommended reducing the use of jute bags for food grains packaging by 5 per cent, from 90 per cent to 85 per cent, for this financial year.
“In the Ministry’s opinion, lowering the use of jute bags will lead to a crisis in the industry and it will cause an abrupt fall in raw jute prices. It is because the availability of raw jute is more than the previous year,†said a source close to the development. In the recent past, this is the first time when higher authorities in the Textiles Ministry have turned down suggestions made by a lower authority.
In May this year, the Jute Commissioner in his seven-point suggestion before the standing advisory committee had suggested lowering the use of jute bags in phases to 50 per cent by 2023-24. The Ministry stated that in view of the raw jute production, performance and production trends of sacking bags over the years, reservation should be retained at 90 per cent.