French natural fibre processor working on jute products

A French company engaged in processing natural fibre is trying to develop jute-based products due to environment-friendly nature of the golden fibre of Bangladesh.

NatUp Fibres, a leading company based in Normandy area of France, is working on developing products based on the natural fibre jute in an effort to replace comparatively expensive flax, also a natural fibre that grows mostly in France and used to produce linen and other products.

The company supplies different car components like door panels, dashboards, wheel arches, parcel shelves, backs of seats, spare wheel covers and headliners made of natural fibres like flax, hemp and kenaf (meshta).

But in the recent years, this European key player which is supplying the interior parts of automotive industry started using imported jute fibre from Bangladesh to make the products. They are importing around 1,400 tonnes of jute annually to make the products.

In the most recent development, the company has set up a small production plant of jute-based products at their factory premises and, based on the performance, they would go for expansion - be it in the existing premises or in Bangladesh by forming a joint venture, Karim Behlouli, chief executive officer of NatUp Fibres, told a group of journalists from Bangladesh.

He was talking to the nrewsmen during a recent visit to the company's flax-based linen thread and car component manufacturing facilities at Yvetot in Normandy area of France.

He said Bangladesh has the potential to become major suppliers of jute to the global car industry, but the country has to ensure quality. "Separating manually is very important as far as the quality is concerned," he added.

He explained that the natural fibre is better than plastic as it is 30 per cent lighter while the jute can be used with petrochemicals or resin (at 50:50 ratio) to get better performance from the car components.

"This composite material reduces the weight of cars and improves fuel efficiency," said the CEO of NatUp Fibres.

"We are investing more to add value to jute which is the longest and strongest natural fibre," he said, adding that they would go for expansion of the jute-based products manufacturing facilities subject to demand by the automakers.

The global auto industry has an annual demand for 80,000-100,000 tonnes of natural fibre, of which 10,000 to 12,000 tonnes of jute are supplied by Bangladesh, according to an estimate by the local exporters.

Mr. Behlouli said there is a huge scope to transform jute fibre into diversified export products and expand its market globally. "The future of jute is very good. We need more innovations here," he added.

Meanwhile, speakers at a seminar last month in Dhaka on 'Diversification of Jute Products: Prospects and Impediments' stressed the need for value added jute products through adoption of modern technologies for tapping the potential of the country's jute sector and called for conducting proper research into innovative jute goods.

They suggested the entrepreneurs to seek government funds for technology upgradation and innovations for value-added diversified jute products.

The seminar was told that presently the producers are making 235 types of jute goods in the country and emphasised on outlining a long-term roadmap to explore the potential of local and international markets.

Sources said, the global demand for jute products is increasing day by day and the requirement for jute bags is about 500 billion pieces in the world while plastic bags will be banned in the whole Europe by 2020 where 45 billion pieces of shopping bags are used.

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