Hydrocarbon-Free Jute Bag Units Get 10% Aid

The union textiles ministry has announced an export marketing assistance (EMA) of 10 per cent to manufacturers of hydrocarbon-free jute bags.

Textiles minister Kashiram Rana announced the incentive at Delhi last week, top Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA) officials told Business Standard. The incentive is primarily aimed at assisting manufacturers of hydrocarbon-free bags which would be exported for packaging cocoa and coffee products in the European and US markets.

According to IJMA officials, the 10 per cent EMA is an additional incentive being given to the jute sector over the cocoa packaging contract which has been clinched by the government with the Cocoa Association of London (CAL). The CAL contract stipulates that food grade jute bags, which is the new name coined for hydrocarbon-free jute bags, will be used for exclusive packaging of products like cocoa, coffee and all shell nuts.

 

The contract would ensure an export demand of up to one lakh hydrocarbon-free jute bags every year for domestic manufacturers. The size of the initial market for cocoa products alone is estimated in the region of 50,000 bags per year. According to officials, there has been a worldwide acceptance of Indian hydrocarbon-free jute bags as ideal packaging material for cocoa, confectionery and coffee products.

The CAL contract is a fallout of the recent delegation of jute industry representatives which visited cocoa producing and buying countries in West Africa and Europe as part of an export promotion tour led by Kashiram Rana.

The delegation included government representatives like Jute Commissioner Bimal Pande and industry representatives like Sanjay Kajaria, chairman, Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA).

"The delegation travelled from Africa to Europe to meet cocoa buyers and representatives of chocolate-confectionery industries," said Kajaria. A significant part of the tour in Europe was a conference on the same issue with the United Nations-promoted International Trade Organisation, he added.

Rana leads another delegation next month to South America to promote the use of these bags in the packaging of coffee.

The tour includes visits to coffee producing and buying countries like Latin America, the USA and the United Kingdom.

"The cocoa and coffee markets are clearly the targets for export marketing of jute bags, and efforts are becoming more aggressive in this direction," said IJMA officials.