BGMEA UNIVERSITY OF

FASHION & TECHNOLOGY

(BUFT)
Assignment On:
“Major Economic Sector: Jute and Jute
Industry of Bangladesh”
Department Name : Apparel Merchandising & Management
Course Name : Bangladesh Studies

Course Code : SOC1101

Submitted By:
Rownak Jahan Sraboni
#ID: 201-008-111

Submitted To:
MD. Abdur Rakib
Asst. Professor & Head,
Department Of Social Science
BUFT

05/07/2020
 Jute
Jute is the main cash crop of Bangladesh. The scientific name of jute is “Corochorus SPP” It is known as the
gold fiber of Bangladesh. It is one of the cheapest and the strongest of all natural fibers and considered as
fiber of the future. Jute is second only to cotton in world's production of textile fibers. It is also produced in
southwest Asia and Brazil. The jute fiber is also known as Pat, kosta, Nalita, Bimli or Mesta (kenaf).
Bangladesh, India, China and Thailand are the leading producers of Jute. In the financial year 2009-10,
about 5% of the country's foreign exchange was
earned through the export of raw jute and jute
products. Jute produced in Bangladesh is of the best
quality in the world. Bangladesh is the second largest
producer of jute in the world. Jute, as a natural fiber,
has many inherent advantages like lustier, high
tensile strength, low extensibility, moderate heat
and fire resistance and long staple lengths. It is a
biodegradable and eco-friendly. It has many advantages over synthetics and
protects the environment and maintains the ecological balance. Jute is not only a major textile fiber but
also a raw material for nontraditional and value added non-textile products. Jute is used extensively in the
manufacture of different types of traditional packaging fabrics, manufacturing Hessian, sacking, carpet
backing, mats, bags, tarpaulins, ropes and twines. Recently jute fibers are used in a wide range of
diversified products: decorative fabrics, chic-saris, salwar kamizes, soft luggage's, footwear, greeting cards,
molded door panels and other innumerable useful consumer products. Supported by several technological
developments today jute can be used to replace expensive fibers and scare forest
materials.

Favorable conditions for jute cultivation: Jute is a monsoon crop. Seeds are
usually sown from March to April. Jute is harvested in July and August. Jute is then
decomposed in water to collect fibers. Fertile loamy soil of Bangladesh with
temperature of 20 degree Celsius to 25 degree Celsius and rainfall of 200 cm to 250 cm
is very suitable for jute cultivation. In addition, economic factors such as abundance of
labor, required capital, affordable transportation, secure markets, etc. are also helping
to improve jute cultivation.

Jute Production: Bangladesh is the major jute producing country in the world.
However, its place is 2nd in the world, including Mesta. In 2010-11, about 15 lacs 21
thousand metric tons of jute was produced by cultivating jute in 16 lacs 51 thousand
acres of land in Bangladesh. The jute fiber comes from the stem and ribbon (outer skin) of the jute plant.
The fibers are first extracted by retting. The retting process consists of bundling jute stems together and
immersing them in slow running water. There are two types of
retting, stem and ribbon. After the retting process, stripping
begins women, children usually do this job. In the stripping
process, non-fibrous matter is scraped off the workers dig in
and grab the fibers from within the jute stem. Jute is a rain-fed
crop with little need for fertilizer or pesticides, in contrast
to cotton's heavy requirements. Production is concentrated mostly in Bangladesh, India's states of Assam,
Bihar, and West-Bengal. 

India is the world's largest producer of jute but imported

approximately 162,000 tons of raw fiber and 175,000 tons of jute
products in 2011. India, Pakistan, and China import significant
quantities of jute fiber and products from Bangladesh, as do
the United Kingdom, Japan,  United States, France, Spain, Ivory
Coast, Germany and Brazil.

Jute Producing Areas: Some jute is grown in almost all regions of

Bangladesh. Among them jute is produced in Rangpur, Mymensingh,
Faridpur, Comilla, Jessore, Dhaka, Kushtia, Jamalpur, Tangail, Pabna,
Rajshahi etc. However, jute cultivation is very low in Chittagong,
Rangamati, Khagrachhari, Bandarban, Cox's Bazar and Patuakhali areas.

Jute Trade: Being a major player in the long history of jute trade and having
finest natural fiber, Bangladesh has always had an advantage in raw jute trading. Bangladesh is still the
largest producer and exporter of raw jute in the world. Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC),
a public corporation in Bangladesh, is the largest state owned manufacturing and exporting organization
in the world in the jute sector. BJMC owns and operates a number of jute mills around
Bangladesh

 Dhaka Zone: Bengal Jute Industries Limited, Pride Jute Mills Ltd. (established: 2003), Golden Jute
Industries Ltd. (established: 2012) Bangladesh Jute Mills, Karim Jute Mills, Latif Bawany Jute Mills,
U.M.C Jute Mills, Janata Jute Mills, Qaumi Jute Mills, Rajshahi Jute Mills. Mony Jute Goods
Handicrafts and textiles.

 Khulna Zone: Afil Jute Mills Ltd. , Aleem Jute Mills, Carpeting Jute Mills, Crescent Jute Mills,
Eastern Jute Mills, Jessore Jute Industries, Peoples Jute Mills, Platinum Jubilee Jute Mills, Star Jute
Mills.

 Chittagong Zone: Amin Jute Mills, Amin Old Field, Gul Ahmed Jute Mills, Hafiz Jute Mills, Karnafuli
Jute Mills, Development of Decorative Fabric, M.M. Jute Mills, R.R. Jute Mills, Bagdad-Dhaka
Carpet Factory, Furat Karnafuli Carpet Factory.

In 2010-11, Bangladesh exported raw jute and earned about US dollar, 126 million in foreign exchange.
The United States, United Kingdom, India, France, Canada, Korea, Japan and other countries are the
main buyers of jute in Bangladesh. Besides there are top 16 jute mills still producing many jute goods
and raw jutes such as :

1.Bangladesh Jute Mills 5.The Golden Fibre 9.Faridpur Jute Fibers 13.Creation Private
Corporation (BJMC) Trade Centre Ltd. Ltd. Limited
2.Sonali Aansh Industries 6.Bangladesh Jute 10.Sonali Boyan Shilpo 14.Royal Inspection
Ltd. Association (BJA) International Ltd.
3.Jute Spinners Ltd. 7.Bangladesh Jute 11.Alhaj Jute Mills Ltd. 15.Patuakhali Jute
Spinners Association Mills Ltd.
 4.Mawada Traders 8.Bangladesh Jute 12.Pubali Jute Mills Ltd. 16.Shamsher Jute
Research Institute Mills Limited
Background of Jute Industry: Jute Industry played an important role in the
economic development of Bengal. At the beginning of the twentieth century,
Bengal could boast of only one manufacturing industry jute. It employed about a
half of the total industrial workforce of Bengal. In 1900-1, the export value of
jute manufactures accounted for nearly a third of the entire export trade of
Bengal. By 1866, three new mills were established. Between 1868 and 1873,
these mills made large profits. Five new companies started in 1874 and 8 more in 1875. Thus, Bengal
experienced a real boom in jute industry towards the end of the nineteenth century. With the
establishment of jute mills, Bengal became a major exporter of sacking bags. Calcutta appeared to be a
strong competitor of Dundee and successfully penetrated into Dundee's hessian market in many parts of
the world, including America, primarily because Calcutta had the cost advantage in producing jute goods.

Secondly, it was situated in close proximity to the jute growing

districts of Eastern Bengal and Assam. Thirdly, it had cheap labour.
Fourthly, the mills ran for 15 to 16 hours, and sometimes even for
22 hours daily. This led to a clear advantage of Calcutta
manufacturers in monetary terms.

Moreover, they could offer a finer quality of jute. In 60 years

between 1880 and 1940, the number of mills increased by 5 times, that of looms by about 14 times, of
spindles by 19 times, and of persons employed by 11 times (see Table). The growth of the industry was
significant during the 20 years between 1900 and 1920.

Growth of jute industry in Bengal, 1879-1939

Years Mills Looms Spindles Employment

1879-80 22 5,000 71,000 27,000
1900-01 36 16,100 331,400 114,800
1920-21 77 41,600 869,900 288,400
1938-39 110 69,000 13,70,000 299,000

“Adamjee Jute Mills” was built with financial support from the Pakistan

Industrial Development Corporation. By 1960, the number of jute mills had
increased to 14 and 12 of them was supported by Pakistan Industrial
Development Corporation. The majority of these mills were founded by non-
Bengalis. This generated some tension as the majority of the workers were
Bengali which made the government realise that they needed to encourage
more Bengali entrepreneurs. Abul Kashem Khan, the Minister of Industry,
developed a plan to divide the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation
into two, West Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation and East Pakistan
Industrial Development Corporation, to encourage more entrepreneurs from
East Pakistan. The East Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation lowered the minimum number of
looms required to open a factory and encouraged small Bengali entrepreneurs. This increased the
number of jute mills owned by Bengalis. By 1970, East Pakistan had 77 jute mills which employed 170
thousand people. Pakistan earned 77 million rupees from the export of jute from East Pakistan and
became the largest exporter of jute in the world. Jute as percentage of foreign revenue increased from
0.2% in 1952 to 46% in 1970.

Adamjee Jute Mill (1950): Adamjee Jute Mill established

in Narayanganj in 1950 by the Adamjee Group. It was the very first
jute mill in East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh). Gradually, the mill
became the largest jute mill in the world, exceeding the jute mills of
Calcutta (now Kolkata), India, and Dundee, Scotland. The mills were
nationalised after the independence of Bangladesh in 1972. It was
operated by the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) before
being closed down in 2002.

The Adamjee Group in December 1949 presented the government of

Pakistan a proposal for the jute plant. The capital for the mills was to
be provided by Adamjee Brothers and the Pakistan Industrial
Development Corporation 50-50 equally. Siddhirganj was chosen as
the site of mill. The mill was established in December 1951. The
Adamjee family lost control of the mill in 1971 during the Bangladesh Liberation War and it was
nationalized after the Independence of Bangladesh. During the war Bengali workers were replaced by
Bihari workers in the. After the war ended, the Bihari workers in the factory were protected by the
Indian Army. It employed over 25,000 workers when it was closed on 30 June 2002.

Since the nationalization the mill had accumulated 12

billion taka in losses. After a strong battle for survival,
Adamjee Jute Mills was officially closed down in 2002
despite huge protests from local policy makers and
political opponents. In that place, a new industrial
zone has been installed, Adamjee Export Processing
Zone. In August 2011, the jute and textiles ministry sent a
proposal to the prime minister of Bangladesh seeking her
approval for rebuilding the second unit of the Adamjee
Jute Mills in Narayanganj on 11 acres of land at an
estimated cost of Tk 6087.2 million.

The Basic Jute Products: The most basic and essential jute commodities fabricated in Bangladesh
jute mills are:

o Canvas: It is the finest jute item, woven with highly premium grades of fiber. Jute canvas and
screen lamination along with paper polythene is widely used in mines and for getting protection
against weather.

o Sacking Cloth: Made up of low quality jute fibers, sacking cloth is loosely woven heavy cloth used
for packing sugar, food grains, cement etc. Weighing from 15 to 20 ozs, several qualities are
available in this category like Twill, heavy Cees, D.W Flour, Cement Bags and many more.

o Hessian Cloth: It is a plain woven superior quality jute fabric, weighing between 5 and 12 ozs, a
yard. Hessian cloth is highly exported all across the world in the form of cloth, bags etc. Also
known as burlap, this cloth is vastly used in wide ambit of applications.
 o D.W. Tarpaulin: This product is majorly used for coverings on a very high multidimensional scale. 

o Bags: Used mainly for shopping, bags are usually fabricated from sacking or hessian cloths. They
are often decorated with varied artistic designs and with straps, chains and handles in several
dimensions and shapes. Other categories of bags are promotional bags which are manufactured
to promote items for sale. 

o Hydrocarbon free jute cloth: This cloth is fabricated by treating jute with vegetable oil. It is a
hessian fabric, hydrocarbon free cloth, widely used for packing different food materials, cocoa,
coffee, peanut beans etc.

o Geo-textile: It is a jute cloth laid along the river embankment sides and hill slopes to prevent soil
erosion and landslides.

o Serim Cloth: It is a light weight hessian cloth, used in felt industry for reinforcing the non woven
fabric and for strengthening paper with lamination. 

o Tobacco sheets: Used for wrapping tobacco leaves, tobacco sheets are made up of hessian cloth.

o Decorative items: The vast variety of decorative products are made up of jute fabrics like wall
hangings, toys, table lamps, paper, decorative bags, furniture and many more.

o Hessian tapes and gaps: They are made up with hessian cloth, woven with gaps at regular
intervals and the cloths cut between the gaps to make small width taps.

Export of Jute & Jute Goods: World Export of raw Jute, Kenaf and Allied Fibers from 2003/2004
to 2012/2013 in ‘000 tonnes (1 tonne=1000kg). Chart in the below:

Total Jute,
2003/ 2004/ 2005/ 2006/ 2007/ 2008/
Kenaf And 2009/ 2010/ 2011/  2012/
Allied
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010 2011 2012 2013
Fibres:

World 374.2 343.3 468.7 462.4 530.9 326.2 331.9 431.1 439.6 409.9

Developing
363.3 326.5 452.5 452.8 521.4 318.2 326.1 424.5 431.0 398.4
Countries

Far East 363.3 326.5 452.3 452.3 520.6 317.9 325.3 424.0 430.5 397.9

Bangladesh 342.9 306.7 440.5 439.7 516.8 314.9 287.8 380.3 411.1 396.0

China 1 0.6 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.6 0.1 0.7 0.1 0.0

Myanmar 16.9 13.7 5.6 9 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0

Thailand 1.1 1 1.1 0 0 0.1 0 0.2 0.1 0.3

Other 1.4 4.4 4.9 3.5 4.6 2.9 2.8 42.8 19.2 1.6

Other
0 0 0.2 0.2 0 0 0.8 0.5 0.5 0.5
Developing

Developed 10.9 16.8 16.1 14.6 23.4 8.2 5.6 6.6 8.6 11.5
 Countries

In financial year2009-10, about 5% of the country's foreign exchange was earned through export of raw
jute and jute products. The amount of earning was US$ 126.8 million. Bangladesh earned US$ 791.3
million from the export of jute and jute products in the first ten months (July-April) of the current fiscal
year 2019-20, which is 14 percent higher than the earnings during the corresponding period of the
previous fiscal year.

The export earnings from jute and jute goods is also 17 percent higher than the target set by the
government for the first ten months of outgoing fiscal year.

Narayanganj Imports      :  About 10,000 Qntl. Raw Jute Export during 2013-2014
Daulatpur Imports         :  About 20,000 Qntl. (01.07.2013 to 31.10.2013) = 2,10,870 Bales
Quality of Jute               :  Good -
Condition of Jute           :  Fair. Value Taka    = 145.53 Crore.

Bangladesh Jute at a Glance:

Statistical Top
Data

Average of last 3 years (2007/08-2009/10):

1. Average land area under jute cultivation : 4,64,000 ha

2. Average Yield : 2,32 ton/ha
3. a) Average Production of Jute : 1.08 m ton (60 lacs bales)
b) Carry Over (opening stock) : 0.03 m ton (1.67 lacs bales)
4. Number of farm families : 3.5 – 4 million
5. Average internal consumption of jute : 0.6 m ton (33.3 lacs bales)
6. a) Average export of raw jute : 0.4 m ton (22.5 lacs bales)
b) Value : US$ 140 million
7. Number of jute mills (BJMA) : 96 (closed 19, lay off 5)
8. Number of jute mills (BJSA) : 67 (closed 3)
9. Number of jute mills (BJMC) : 24 (closed 4)
10. Total number of jute mills : 187 (closed 31)
11. Number of workers employed in jute mills (Approx) : 1,50,000
12. Average production of jute goods (BJMC,BJMA,BJSA) : 5,925,00 MT
a) Sacking : 180600 MT
b) Hessian : 40,490 MT
c) CBC : 11,130 MT
d) Yarn & Twine : 3, 27,970 MT
13. Average internal consumption of jute goods : 1,00,000 MT
14. Average export of jute goods : 4,87,000 MT
15. Average export value of jute goods : US$ 471 million
16. Total average export earnings from jute & jute goods : US$ 611 million
Bangladesh Jute Industries Future: The jute and jute goods sector fetched export earnings of
USD 74.88 million in July of the current fiscal year (2019–20). This was up from the USD 74.26 million
recorded for the same period in the previous financial year, thereby showing a steady growth of 0.83%,
according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

Jute and jute goods is the third sector to have crossed the USD 1 billion-mark in export receipts after
readymade garments and leather and leather products. Hence, it also depicts the reduction in
dependency on the apparel sector.  Last year, Bangladesh exported 80 containers of jute products;
each container holds 16,000 jute sacks. So, a total quantity of 12, 80,000 jute sacks was exported last
year. According to BJMC, Bangladesh produced 9.2 million bales of jute in 2017 and this figure was 5
million bales in 2016. Some 240 types of products are being produced by the jute sector in Bangladesh.
The average production of jute goods is 663,000 per year. More than 40 million people are directly and
indirectly involved in this sector. A total of 22 government jute mills are running and fully active at this
moment. Exporters do not get any incentive from the government but local manufacturers are
enjoying 7.5% cash incentive from the government.

Exports in Bangladesh decreased to 262 BDT Billion in February from 264.38 BDT Billion in January of
2020. But it is also needed to be remind, Bangladesh is producing quality jute yarn and, because of that,
the demand has increased. The price has also increased by about USD 500 to USD 600 per tonnes of yarn.
Jute yarn and twine fetched USD 50.08 million and registered a growth of 7.28% compared to the financial
year 2018–19, Bangladeshi jute exporters are exporting jute and jute goods on an average worth Tk 30–35
crore per year.

The End.