Jute millers seek low-cost fund

Jute millers have urged the government to speed up the formation of a low-cost fund for the jute sector to allow entrepreneurs to modernise machineries of their dilapidated mills and increase productivity. 

The view was shared at an annual general meeting of Bangladesh Jute Mills Association (BJMA) on Saturday.

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At the meeting, BJMA Chairman Abul Hossain said the Ministry of Textiles and Jute requested the finance ministry to create an initial low-cost fund of Tk 500 crore out of its proposed Jute Sector Development Fund of Tk 10,000 crore.

"We hope this fund will be developed within a short time," he said.

The BJMA also lamented a lack of implementation of the mandatory jute packaging act-2010.

The association of private millers urged the government to reduce the price of jute batching oil, which is used to make jute fibres pliable, as an increase in prices would fuel production cost.

The government earlier hiked the price of jute batching oil by 55 per cent to Tk 140 per litre from Tk 90 earlier.

The BJMA chairman said at present the jute sector in Bangladesh was facing a lot of critical problems. One is a drastic fall in exports, he added.