• Briefly write about geographical distribution of jute industry in India.
• Discuss locational factors of jute industry.
• Discuss the challenges of the jute industry.
• Conclude appropriately.
Answer:
India is the world’s largest producer
of raw jute. It is also known as ‘Golden Fibre’.
It is primarily
grown in West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Andhra Pradesh.
The Indian jute industry is mainly located in West Bengal, along the banks of the Hugli River with
around 70 mills, while Andhra Pradesh stood a distant second with just around 10 jute mills along
the banks of the river Godavari.
The following factors have influenced location of jute industry in India:
• Proximity to jute producing areas: Jute is pure fiber (i.e. weight of raw material = weight of
end product).
So, jute industry needs to be set up near jute cultivation regions.
• Suitable climate: The Brahmaputra and Gangetic valley has a humid climate, which is very
convenient for spinning and weaving apart from cultivating jute.
• Presence of rivers: The jute industry, its processing and treatment require huge amounts
of water owing to which it grew near major rivers of the states in which it is found.
• Cost-effective transportation: Cheap waterways and railways add to ease in transport at
least in West Bengal.
• Labour: Cheap labour from West Bengal and adjoining states of Bihar, Odisha and Uttar
Pradesh are found in abundance.
• Energy: Coal Mines located in Raniganjh and Jharia serve to fulfill the power requirement for
the industry.
In addition to West Bengal, jute mills are also located at Guntur, Vishakhapatnam and Nelimarla
in Andhra region and at Kanpur, Shahjanwan and Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. This shift came
as these regions also meet the conditions for jute industry and have cheap labour.
However, jute industry faces several challenges which are as follows:
• Obsolete processing technology: The availability of quality raw jute and shrinking acreage on
the one-hand and the failure of most jute mills to modernize, left the sector dependent on
government’s support for procurement like mandatory packaging of food grains in jute bags.
o Primitive, labour-intensive cultivation methods: Practices like retting (drenching raw
jute in water to extract the fibre) — a crucial determinant in raw jute quality — creates
problems.
• Lack of product diversification: Only a section of the industry has diversified into non-
packaging segments.
o Issues with the jute fiber: Its raw material, i.e. jute fibre, is basically a coarse fibre and is
not suitable for spinning yarn of low count. Due to its coarseness, the fibre is facing
challenges in entering the diversified areas, namely, curtains, upholstery and light weight
blankets, like other natural fibres.
• Competition: It faces stiff competition from synthetic substitutes and from other
competitors like Bangladesh, Brazil, Philippines, Egypt and Thailand.
Bangladesh exports
raw and finished products to India at cheaper prices. Illegal import of yarn and twine from Bangladesh is another challenge. Owing to this, the local industries are unable to sell their products at competitive rates. It has a cascading effect on the workers who lose wages.
Jute industry being important to the economy needs to be promoted through suitable steps
including developing a marketing strategy and incentivizing modernization of jute mills.
The growing global concern for environment friendly, biodegradable materials has also provided an
opportunity for jute products to be promoted as promising green alternative.
Additional info
Jute is a long, rough, shiny bast fiber
that can be spun into coarse, strong threads.
It is produced from flowering plants and
affordable natural fibers and second only to cotton.
Cultural significance
National Emblem of Bangladesh. Above the water lily are four stars and three connected jute leaves.
