92.37 lakh jute sacks lie unsold in 8 Khulna mills

A staggering 92.37 lakh pieces of jute sacks have remained unsold in the eight state-run jute mills of Khulna region, due to poor demand from the factories of sacking goods.

The situation has led to fund shortage and suspension of payment of wages to workers, said officials of different jute mills in the region.

The workers of Platinum Jute Mills demonstrated on January 8 and 9 demanding payment of their arrear wages.

Bangladesh Jute Mill Corporation (BJMC) set a daily target of producing five lakh jute sacks in all the state-run jute mills across the country, following a directive issued by the authorities late October last year, BJMC sources said.

The target includes 2.63 lakh sacks in eight jute mills in Khulna region -- Crescent, Platinum, Khalishpur, Daulatpur, Star, Eastern, JJI and Carpeting jute mills.

Following the order, the eight state-run mills produced 1crore 30 lakh 88 thousand 44 jute sacks till January 12 this year, of which 38.50 lakh 445 have been sold while 92.37 lakh 599 pieces of sacks remained unsold.

Of the total 41.73 lakh 162 jute sacks produced in Crescent Jute Mills, 17.30 lakh were sold while Doulatpur Jute Mills sold 1.9 lakh sacks out of 4.97 lakh 317.

Eastern Jute Mills produced 9.29 lakh 458 jute sacks, of which, 2.24 lakh were sold.

Platinum Jute Mills sold 7.32 lakh 445 jute sacks out of 25.28 lakh 517.

JJI Jute Mills sold 1.68 lakh jute sacks out of its total production of 10.82 lakh 298; Khalishpur Jute Mills sold 4.8 lakh jute sacks out of 28.10 lakh 977 and Star Jute Mills sold 4.79 lakh sacks out of 14.66 lakh 315.

The government earlier issued an order for mandatory use of jute bags for packaging six types of essentials, including paddy, rice, wheat, maize, fertiliser and sugar, and a special drive was launched against use of plastic bags in November last year.

Abu Sayed Md Mamunur Rahman, project chief of Platinum Jute Mills, said the stock of jute sacks sees gradual rise due to low response from the factories and godowns dealing with the six essential items.

Jute sacks worth Tk 11 crore have remained unsold and due to the situation, the mill authorities have failed to pay wages of the workers in time, he added.

Mahabbat Ali Mia, regional coordinator of BJMC, said demand of jute sacks is low due to high demand of hessian bags at the local market.

"Dealers have been appointed for supplying jute sacks from the eight state-run jute mills. As per the new condition, one jute sack is exchanged against one hessian bag," he said.

He hoped that the demand of jute bags will rise during the upcoming potato harvesting season.