The government estimates that jute bags of 46 lakh bales would be required to pack foodgrains in the next crop season of 2022-23 but the jute industry will fall short in meeting the demand due to inadequate supply of raw jute, industry officials claimed.

In a recent meeting by the Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ministry with the stakeholders to ascertain jute bag demand, an overview of the requirement of jute bags to the tune of around 46 lakh bales in the year 2022-23 but the low commitment of new jute bags by jute mills is creating a severe shortage situation, they said.

The meeting also discussed that the Indian Jute Mills Association had reduced their commitment for the season 2022-23.

“The meeting pushed the blame of shortage of packaging material to low manufacturing capacity of jute mills, non-modernization of jute mills and non increase in production. But, no governments are taking sincere effort to increase raw jute production which is the root cause of the situation,” a senior IJMA official said.

The Centre had fixed raw jute trading at ₹6,500 per quintal which had dried the trading market causing raw jute shortage for the mills, the official said.

"Either government has to ensure steady supply of raw jute or increase the bag rates... ," the mill owners claimed.

The immediate issue faced by the department of food is for arranging jute bags in Kharif season 2021-22, for which 25 lakh bales are required, of which the commitment of supply by IJMA is of 18 lakh bales and which has been further reduced by them to 16 lakh bales, officials said.

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