A laborer shows bundles of jute at a ferry terminal in Munshiganj, Bangladesh, on Sept. 2, 2022. (Xinhua)
Known as the Golden Fiber, jute is one of major cash crops in parts of Bangladesh including Munshiganj district, some 37 km from the national capital Dhaka.
DHAKA, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's jute markets are now bustling with buyers looking for a bargain.
Known as the Golden Fiber, jute is one of the major cash crops in parts of Bangladesh including Munshiganj district, some 37 km from the national capital Dhaka.
Following adequate rainfall in the recent weeks, harvesting of jute plants got momentum in the district and elsewhere in the country.
The newly harvested jute fiber has started hitting local markets which are now abuzz with both buyers and sellers amid a major shift in consumer demand for eco-friendly products that is driving the demand for jute-based products globally.
Jute growers in Munshiganj said they are now overjoyed as they have taken home good crops after months of floods since May damaged their standing crops initially.
Md Mujibar, a jute grower in the district, said the jute he cultivated this time has grown well and the yield has been good.
"We'll do more jute cultivation in the future if we get help from the government," said the farmer.
Shahjahan Mollah is a jute farmer from Shariatpur district, some 101 km south of Dhaka.
While busy bargaining price with a buyer, the farmer who cultivated jute on up to about one hectare of land said at the beginning of the season the yield of jute was not good enough due to the floods which damaged the harvest of jute to some extent.
"After the floods the yield of jute is good," he said, adding, "At the beginning of this selling season, I got the price of jute at 2,800-3,200 taka (29.3-33.6 U.S. dollars per maund, an equivalent to about 37.32 kg)."
Md Shakeel Hossain Bepari is a jute trader. "From now on I'll buy jute and sell it later at a jute mill in Narayanganj (on the outskirts of Dhaka)," he said.
"At the beginning of the selling season, the price was 3,000-3,200 taka (31.5-33.6 U.S. dollars per maund). Farmers are getting money," said the trader.
"If the price of this jute is fixed by the government, farmers will be benefited," he added.
Farmer Abdur Rashid Khan said there is huge demand for jute in his home district of Munshiganj.
"Earlier jute had a high price. Now jute is not much valuable like in the past," he said while awaiting customers for his newly harvested jute fibers.
But Mollah said jute price is still relatively better because of their high demand in both home and abroad, specially in China.
"If they buy more from our country we will benefit a lot and farmers will get a lot of money," he noted. "We will do well and it is possible many people will be interested in jute cultivation."
A laborer carries a bag at a jute market in Munshiganj, Bangladesh, on Sept. 2, 2022. (Xinhua)
The Bangladeshi government has long been working to try to revive the golden era of jute. On March 6 the South Asian country marked the National Jute Day with the theme "Golden country of olden fibre -- Environment friendly Bangladesh".
Bangladesh is the world's second largest jute producer, with an estimated annual output of 1.6 million tons in 2019, showed data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
There are up to 245 private jute mills currently operating in Bangladesh, including 25 state-owned jute mills currently being leased to the private sector. In addition, there are about 700 diverse jute producers who employ between 50,000 to 100,000 people nationwide.
Bangladesh's average domestic consumption of raw jute amounts to 1.16 million tons per year, according to date from the Bangladesh Jute Spinners Association (BJSA).
In addition, it is also a top exporter of jute and jute-based products in the world with the exports totaling about 1 billion U.S. dollars annually. ■
