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BJMC cash-strapped

Sohel Parvez
The state-run Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC), raw jute exporters and private millers suffer from a cash crunch to buy raw jute in the current harvesting season, hurt by falling exports earnings.
It caused prices of newly harvested jute to fall in recent times, industry operators said yesterday.
BJMC has already procured jute worth Tk 200 crore, said its Chairman Major General Humayun Khaled. “But we have paid a small amount to our suppliers.”
BJMC, which has 21 state-jute mills in operation, had earlier sought Tk 300 crore from the government to purchase raw jute in the present season. It is yet to get any
fund from the government.
Raw jute exporters claimed losses due to reduced demand for the natural fibre among buyers abroad.
"We have fallen into bad days," said Mahfuzul Hoque, chairman of Bangladesh Jute Association (BJA), a trade body for raw jute exporters.
"We bought jute at higher prices in the past two seasons. But the slump in prices later wiped out much of our investments. Now almost all of us are cash-strapped," he said.
It will be difficult for the buyers to buy an adequate quantity of jute unless they get finance from banks, Hoque said. He urged banks to increase credit limits for jute purchase.
A fund crisis for millers and raw jute traders affected demand at a time when jute harvesting goes on
in full swing.
Private jute millers also feel the stress as demand for jute goods continued to suffer for factors mainly for the US sanction against Iran, and unrest in Syria and instability in some other Middle Eastern and African markets.
Jute prices on the focal market fell by almost Tk 300 to Tk 1,200-1,800 per maund over the past one month, according to data from BJMC.
Raw jute and jute goods exports rose 2.52 percent to $78.50 million in July from $76.57 million a year ago. Exports of raw jute, jute sacks and bags suffered a slump, according to the Export Promotion Bureau.
Jute exports fell to $967.38 million in 2011-12 from $1.1 billion a year ago, EPB data shows.