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Hoarders make high profit as jute prices jump

S DILIP ROY, Lalmonirhat
Middlemen, who stocked jute after purchasing it for low prices from farmers during the last harvesting season, are earning huge money as the prices in the local markets have doubled recently.
Growers, on the other hand, could hardly make any profit as they had to sell the crop for low prices in absence of storage facilities.
Besides, most of them were in urgent need of cash to repay loans and maintain
family expenses.
Traders from capital Dhaka and other parts of the country are coming to Lalmonirhat town and taking 120 to 130 truckloads of jute daily from local stockists while the growers do not have any sellable jute in their stock.
Only five months ago, low quality jute sold for Tk 450 to Tk 550 per 40 kg, medium quality for Tk 800 to Tk 900 and fine quality for Tk 1050 to Tk 1200, said farmers and traders.
But the price has now jumped to Tk 1000 to Tk
1100, Tk 1700 toTk 1800 and Tk 2000 to Tk 2200 for the three categories of jute.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension in Lalmonirhat, 3 lakh 83 thousand and 784 bales (each bale = 200 kg) of jute were produced from 6,982 hectares of land in the district.
"After harvesting, farmers had to sell jute for low prices to repay loan and run their families. Now the crop is selling for high prices but the profit goes to the pockets of stockist traders and middlemen. We the farmers are
always deprived of fair prices of our produces,” said Afatbul Islam, 50, president of Ekota Farmer's Association in Aditmari upazila of Lalmonirhat.
“I cultivated jute on 55 decimals of land and got 605 kg yield from there. I spent Tk 11,000 for the purpose but had to sell all the jute for Tk 12,100 five months ago,” saidTaher Ali, 55, a farmer of Komlabari village in Aditmari upazila.
“The price of jute has jumped, when we do not have any stock of it. Middlemen purchased
jute from us for low prices and now they are getting benefit of the price hike,” Kalam Shaikh of the same village said.
Sohrab Hossain, a jute stockist at Puma Bazar in the town said, "Five months ago, I purchased 500 bales of jute from the growers. The prices were Tk 2500 a bale for low quality, Tk 4000 for medium quality and Tk 4500 for fine quality jute. I stocked all the jute in my godown as the market was not favourable. Now the jute prices have doubled.”
“Traders from Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna are coming to Lalmonirhat and purchasing a bale of low quality jute at Tk 5100, medium quality at Tk 9000 and high quality jute 10,000 from us," he said.
Saiful Islam, member of Lalmonirhat Chamber of Commerce and Industries, admitted that the middlemen are getting benefit from jute selling in this current year althou the growers were deprived.
Everyday 120 to 130 trucks loaded with jute leave Lalmonirhat town for Dhaka, Khulna and other parts of the country, he said.
If the farmers do not get fair price during the harvesting period, they will lose interest to cultivate the cash crop, said Mohammad Nuruzzaman, Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila agriculture officer.
Mohon Lal Sen, secretary of Ekota Farmer's Association, said the government should take proper policy to increase farmers' stocking capacity for ensuring fair prices of their produces.