Neglected diversified uses of jute
Saturday, 15 September 2007
Md Shahidullah
THE government should move with a real sense of urgency to effectively promote new uses of jute. If this is done and done successfully, then the misgivings in some quarters about the closure of the Adamjee Jute Mills (AJM) will not be there. The AJM was closed down and some more loss-making jute mills in the public sector may also be closed down. But the effects of such moves will be more than offset if projects involving noble uses of jute see the light of the day at the fastest.
In that case, the new jute-based projects will be using jute in large quantities. Thus, the demand for raw jute will continue to be high and farmers will continue to benefit by producing ample quantities of raw jute to meet the high demand. Other intermediaries in the jute trade will also not be adversely affected. More significant will be increased earnings from the new jute-based products including earnings in foreign currencies. Therefore, the government should be taking steps very energetically so that new enterprises to make new jute-based products are set up at the earliest.
Diversified uses of jute in Bangladesh have long awaited commercial exploitation although it should have been realised long ago that such uses of jute only could restore the glory that this natural fibre once enjoyed in the country's export trade. The traditional uses of jute as packing materials lost value due to the invention of synthetic materials. Therefore, the present need is to only fast diversify to other products by using jute.
Some years ago it was learnt that the paper mills in Bangladesh would be using jute sticks to produce paper. But since then, the momentum to produce paper from jute has mysteriously died down. Among the raw materials for producing various types of paper, jute is recognised as one of the raw materials of the superior category. It is regrettable that this country spends precious foreign currency in importing huge quantities of paper, including newsprint and other types of quality paper, when it can save the entire amount and improve its balance of payments position by producing and meeting all its demands for paper at home by utilising jute. Bangladesh can also probably turn out to be a major exporter of paper in the international market producing paper from jute.
Years ago, jute's uses in the form of jute plastics, as yarn for cloth making, as cloth for upholsteries in cars and furniture, for matting embankments and a host of its other uses were invented. Significantly, the prospects for greater uses of jute products have brightened worldwide. The environmental concern is peaking all over the world and manufacturers are increasingly searching for environment friendly and biodegradable products to replace synthetic or plastic products which are now considered as environmentally unsound.
Private entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, on their own, should have worked on these inventions with a view to promoting them or attracting foreign capital to set up joint venture schemes for transforming the inventions --regarding new uses of jute -- into commercial realities. But private entrepreneurs in many cases are found very slow. Therefore, it is imperative for the relevant ministry to work out a plan to promote the new jute based products by engaging in a series of result-oriented dialogue with members of the private sector of both home and abroad.
Under WTO guidelines, the use of synthetic fibres could be prohibited worldwide and opportunities would be created for the use of natural fibres instead. The automobile industries worldwide include huge enterprises and in the wake of the prohibition on artificial materials much prospects could be created for the use of jute products in this industry. Typically, an automobile uses artificial fibre-based products as its parts in thirty-seven places. After the introduction of the WTO regulation, the same thirty-seven parts could be made from jute to meet the needs of the regulation. Thus, much demand for these jute-based products could be created internationally and Bangladesh would be in a leading position to meet this international demand.
Thus, at a time when traditional products are facing setbacks, new value added products made out of jute can prove to lucrative for sustaining and expanding the demand for growing jute and, more significantly, to very substantially increase earnings from jute.
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The writer is a former Deputy General Manager of the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC)
THE government should move with a real sense of urgency to effectively promote new uses of jute. If this is done and done successfully, then the misgivings in some quarters about the closure of the Adamjee Jute Mills (AJM) will not be there. The AJM was closed down and some more loss-making jute mills in the public sector may also be closed down. But the effects of such moves will be more than offset if projects involving noble uses of jute see the light of the day at the fastest.
In that case, the new jute-based projects will be using jute in large quantities. Thus, the demand for raw jute will continue to be high and farmers will continue to benefit by producing ample quantities of raw jute to meet the high demand. Other intermediaries in the jute trade will also not be adversely affected. More significant will be increased earnings from the new jute-based products including earnings in foreign currencies. Therefore, the government should be taking steps very energetically so that new enterprises to make new jute-based products are set up at the earliest.
Diversified uses of jute in Bangladesh have long awaited commercial exploitation although it should have been realised long ago that such uses of jute only could restore the glory that this natural fibre once enjoyed in the country's export trade. The traditional uses of jute as packing materials lost value due to the invention of synthetic materials. Therefore, the present need is to only fast diversify to other products by using jute.
Some years ago it was learnt that the paper mills in Bangladesh would be using jute sticks to produce paper. But since then, the momentum to produce paper from jute has mysteriously died down. Among the raw materials for producing various types of paper, jute is recognised as one of the raw materials of the superior category. It is regrettable that this country spends precious foreign currency in importing huge quantities of paper, including newsprint and other types of quality paper, when it can save the entire amount and improve its balance of payments position by producing and meeting all its demands for paper at home by utilising jute. Bangladesh can also probably turn out to be a major exporter of paper in the international market producing paper from jute.
Years ago, jute's uses in the form of jute plastics, as yarn for cloth making, as cloth for upholsteries in cars and furniture, for matting embankments and a host of its other uses were invented. Significantly, the prospects for greater uses of jute products have brightened worldwide. The environmental concern is peaking all over the world and manufacturers are increasingly searching for environment friendly and biodegradable products to replace synthetic or plastic products which are now considered as environmentally unsound.
Private entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, on their own, should have worked on these inventions with a view to promoting them or attracting foreign capital to set up joint venture schemes for transforming the inventions --regarding new uses of jute -- into commercial realities. But private entrepreneurs in many cases are found very slow. Therefore, it is imperative for the relevant ministry to work out a plan to promote the new jute based products by engaging in a series of result-oriented dialogue with members of the private sector of both home and abroad.
Under WTO guidelines, the use of synthetic fibres could be prohibited worldwide and opportunities would be created for the use of natural fibres instead. The automobile industries worldwide include huge enterprises and in the wake of the prohibition on artificial materials much prospects could be created for the use of jute products in this industry. Typically, an automobile uses artificial fibre-based products as its parts in thirty-seven places. After the introduction of the WTO regulation, the same thirty-seven parts could be made from jute to meet the needs of the regulation. Thus, much demand for these jute-based products could be created internationally and Bangladesh would be in a leading position to meet this international demand.
Thus, at a time when traditional products are facing setbacks, new value added products made out of jute can prove to lucrative for sustaining and expanding the demand for growing jute and, more significantly, to very substantially increase earnings from jute.
....................................
The writer is a former Deputy General Manager of the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC)