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No plastic sacks in rice packaging from next year

Sohel Parvez
No rice miller and trader can use plastic bags to pack grains from January, according to a notification from the jute and textiles ministry that has mandated the use of jute sacks instead.
The gazette says all private rice millers and traders will have to use up their stock of plastic bags by December 31.
The decision is expected to boost the use of the eco-friendly product locally and provide the jute industry a cushion against fluctuations in global demand.
But rice millers had earlier warned that the mandatory use of jute in packaging would increase the prices of rice at consumer level as jute bags are costlier.
The textiles and jute ministry issued the notice on September 28 in line with a law for mandatory packaging by jute passed in parliament in 2010.
But the law remained largely ignored due to reluctance among businesses and delay by the government in framing mandatory packaging rules. However, the rules were framed in June this year.
The government, in the gazette, has also made the use of jute sacks compulsory for packaging fertiliser - 50 percent of the
fertilisers available in the market, both locally-produced and imported, will have to come in jute bags.
"It's a very positive development. The decision will increase local demand for jute and boost production," said Humayun Khaled, chairman of state-owned Bangladesh luteMillsCorporation.
"We are preparing to meet the increased demand for jute sacks in the local market," he said.
State-run Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation and private sugar millers will require packaging 50 percent of their sugar by laminated hessian bags. For maize packaging, the use of jute bags will be mandatory, said the gazette.
The decision came at a time when the export-dependent jute industry is going through tough times due to a depreciation of the Indian rupee and crisis in the Middle East. In the face of falling exports, raw jute prices have gone down at farmers' level thisyear.
Export receipts from jute and jute goods, now the second biggest sector after readymade garments, dropped 15 percent year-on-year to $130 million in July-August of fiscal 2012-13, according to Export Promotion Bureau.
No plastic sacks in rice packaging from next year
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Currently, the annual production of jute sacks stands at 43 crore pieces, most of which are exported, according to Bangladesh Jute Mills Association (BJMA).
At present, only the Directorate General of Food uses jute sacks to pack the rice and wheat it procures. But rice millers and traders, the main market players, do not use the environment-friendly product.
The compulsory use of jute bags in packaging food grains, sugar and fertiliser will create a demand for 35 crore pieces in the local market, according to an estimate by the BJMA.
BJMA Chairman Najmul Huq welcomed the move but urged the government to take steps to ensure compliance. "The decision will become useless without implementation."