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Bangladesh Jute Mills Association (BJMA) has urged the government to launch drive against the hoarders of raw jute and strengthen vigilance in the border areas to stop cross-border smuggling of raw jute.
They also requested the government to impose appropriate duty on export of raw jute.
The leaders of the trade association put forward the demands at the BJMA's 36th Annual General Meeting (AGM) at its office in the capital on Saturday.
The private jute millers at the AGM elected Mohammed Mahbubur Rahman Patwari as its new chairman for the session 2020-21.
Sk. Akram Hossain has been elected as vice chairman while Muhammad Shams-uz Zoha, M.A. Raihan , Md. Harunoor Rashid, Mohammad Shahjahan ,Giridhari Lal Modi, Bijoy Kumar Modi, Zahid Miah as the executive committee members.
In a written speech, immediate past BJMA chairman Muhammad Shams-uz Zoha said the millers were facing problems in procuring raw jute because of its non-availability and higher prices.
According to the BJMA, some 380,000 bales of raw jute were exported during July-November period of last year.
The government in 2018 imposed a ban on export of Bangla Tossa Rejection (BTR) and Bangla White Rejection (BWR), but lifted the ban on May 29 last year following a write petition by the traders. It has made the raw jute price unstable again in the domestic market, Mr. Zoha said.
He said the sector is passing through a very hard time due to a serious financial crisis. After imposing anti-dumping duty by India, he said, the jute goods export to India dropped significantly.
Besides, the export of traditional jute products has reduced significantly in others markets because of political unrest in the Middle East, economic slowdown in Europe and the jute goods market in Africa being captured by India.
Under the circumstances, the BJMA has urged the authorities concerned to bring down the rate of interest on bank loans to single digit to protect the interests of the jute goods producers.
They also sought necessary fund and proper enforcement of the Mandatory Jute Packaging Act 2010 to increase local consumption of the jute goods.
Their other demands included rationalisation of the price of Jute Batching Oil (JBO) and recognising jute products as agro-processed goods for extending facilities to the sector.