The Hindu Business Line : Plea to remove duties on Bangla jute yarn

"We think that there is enough scope for Bangladeshi jute yarn in India. We have requested the Union Finance Ministry and hope that it is taken care of while formulating the Free trade Agreement," Mr Majumdar told Business Line.

Kolkata , Dec. 25

THE Union Textile Ministry has urged the Union Finance Ministry to remove all duties on the import of jute yarn from Bangladesh. The proposal has been formally made by Mr S. Majumdar, Jute Commissioner.

According to him, the importers currently pay approximately 16 per cent on duty while importing jute yarn from Bangladesh.

It may be noted that Bangladeshi raw jute traders have been requesting the Indian Government to remove the import duty on raw jute. At present, it is as low as 2.5 per cent - 3 per cent. Instead of accepting this proposal, the Jute Commissioner's office has made a different proposal.

Industry sources said that the average raw jute quality of Bangladesh is better than that of the Indian production. However, in almost every year, the total raw jute production overshoots its annual demand.

As a result, the market tends to move in such a manner that jute growers suffer from unremunerative prices. "Hence, there is no logic to further increase the supply of raw jute in the domestic market," sources said.

At present, the West Bengal jute industry is facing strike threat from 16 central trade unions on various demands including higher wages and dearness allowance. The Jute Commissioner, being a representative of the Union Textile Ministry, said his office has nothing to do in it. "It is a matter for the State Government," he said.

He was, however, confident that annual jute production in 2003-04 would remain stable at around 16 lakh tonnes as it has been witnessed during the last four years. The Jute Commissioner also said that there is no dearth of orders for the jute mills.

"For the rabi season there is a demand for 8.5 lakh tonnes of jute sackings for foodgrains, of which 2.3 lakh tonne have been indented and 1.1 lakh tonnes have been supplied," he said.

The Jute Commissioner was also confident about jute exports. In 2002-03, the industry narrowly missed its annual export target of Rs 1,000 crore due to the Iraq War. For the current financial year, the target has been fixed at Rs 1,200 crore.

"Exports are showing good progress but one must not forget that the Indian rupee has appreciated a lot. I do not know whether the industry will meet the annual target but in terms of volumes there is will be some growth," he said.

Meanwhile, the Jute Commissioner's office is continuing with 100 per cent mandatory packaging orders for foodgrains and 90 per cent for sugar. It has, however, moved the Supreme Court against the Calcutta High Court order cancelling the proposal to dilute the mandatory order.

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