‘Jute manufacturing to be 20% decrease this 12 months on floods’

The jute sector had ₹4,500-crore annual export potential. It was ₹3,000 crore final monetary 12 months and was projected to be nearly ₹3,500 crore through the present fiscal.
| Picture Credit score: ASHOKE CHAKRABARTY

Jute manufacturing is anticipated to drop by 20% this monetary 12 months, mentioned Shashi Bhushan Singh, secretary of the Nationwide Jute Board.

Mr. Singh, who was in Coimbatore for an expo organised by the Board, advised The Hindu on Thursday that cultivation was affected in West Bengal and Assam due to pure calamities this 12 months. Floods had broken the crop in some areas, impacting manufacturing.

Jute exports had the potential for ₹4,500 crore yearly. It was ₹3,000 crore final monetary 12 months and was projected to be nearly ₹3,500 crore through the present fiscal.

The Board was making ready a draft for Jute Expertise Mission 2.0 and performed conferences with stakeholders. It was additionally supporting analysis initiatives to seek out extra functions for jute. Lab testing was over for extracting ethanol from jute crops. It was estimated that one tonne of jute plant would give 495 litres of ethanol. There have been plans to arrange a pilot unit, he mentioned. One other challenge was to make jute composite supplies that may very well be used for various functions, he mentioned.