Textiles ministry turns down suggestion to lower jute bags' use

Jute mills have a capacity to produce 1.23 million tonnes of jute bags

The Union textiles ministry is learnt to have rejected a suggestion by the Jute Commissioner to lower the use of jute bags in 2017-18.

The Jute Commissioner had recommended reducing the use of jute bags for food grains packaging by five per cent, from 90 per cent to 85 per cent, for this financial year. 

“In the ministry’s opinion, lowering the use of jute bags will lead to a crisis in the industry and it will cause an abrupt fall in raw jute prices.  It is because the availability of raw jute is more than the previous year,” said a