Commerce ministry to support jute sector: Sitharaman

The Commerce Ministry would extend help in every possible way to address woes of the jute industry, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.

"Although jute is not within the jurisdiction of my ministry, it is under the textiles ministry. But my ministry will help in its own way", Sitharaman told reporters after a closed-door meeting on jute industry here where Minister of State for Textiles Santosh Gangwar was also present.

The meeting, convened by the National Jute Board, was attended by all the stakeholders like the mill owners, trade union representatives and various government agencies associated with the trade.

She said that the jute industry had a lot of export potential as the fibre was environment friendly.

Issues like minimum support price (MSP) for raw jute purchase were visited in the meet was very productive, she said.

Sitharaman said that with the only assured market being the Jute Mandatory Packaging Order, there was a need for diversification into other products as well.

She said that Indian jute was losing market to Bangladesh.

"The quality of the Indian produce is not that good. We are losing market to Bangladesh", Sitharaman said, adding that she would talk to the agriculture ministry on improving the quality.