The jute industry has demanded imposition of a countervailing duty on jute imports from Bangladesh. Indian jute manufacturers have raised the demand ahead of the Union Budget to counter surging imports from Bangladesh that have grown 35 per cent in the April-December period of this fiscal.

Over the same period, domestic jute bag manufacturers cut production by more than 25 per cent. The main complaint is that there is zero duty on import of jute goods from Bangladesh, thereby creating a non-level playing field between jute manufacturers of India and Bangladesh.

The industry has also urged the government to expedite the use of jute geo-textiles in at least 15 per cent of the road construction program, as using this product in about 200 projects has been found to be beneficial and cost effective in road construction, river bank protection as well as hill slope stabilization.

Mills estimate it’s possible to reduce the cost of jute bags supplied to the government for food grain packing by as much as 30 per cent over the next two to three years through technological upgradation of jute mills and product redesigning. They say if market stability is provided by the government to the industry for sacking, jute mills would be able to increase the share of value added jute products from the current two per cent to seven to eight per cent in the next five years.