Indian govt likely to revisit price cap on raw jute

To discuss the issue, a tripartite meeting was held this week in Delhi, which was attended by senior officials of the Jute Commissioner’s Office, representatives of the Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA), and West Bengal labour department secretary Barun Kumar Ray.

An official of a millers' body said that the meeting was “fruitful”, and a “positive outcome” is expected shortly.

“There were detailed deliberations on the issue of price capping on raw jute and also on new jute bag pricing. The Union textiles secretary was apprised of all issues. He will now discuss the matter with Union minister of textiles Piyush Goyal and then will come out with a decision,” a senior official of IJMA told Fibre2Fashion.

It was the first such meeting convened by the textiles ministry with all the major stakeholders of the jute industry since the price cap was imposed on September 30, 2021.

The meeting was called after BJP MP Arjun Singh criticised the jute policy of the Centre and accused the commissioner of crippling the industry by retaining the raw jute price cap at ₹6,500 per quintal.

Industry sources said that the West Bengal government was in favour of removal of the price cap on raw jute and revised pricing of hessian bags as per the recommendation of the tariff commission. The state government is of the opinion that the current market-driven prices favour farmers.

Around 2.5 lakh workers are reportedly employed in various jute mills across West Bengal, predominantly in districts of Howrah, Hooghly and North 24 parganas.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)