Jute Shippers Council search inclusion of Cochin Port for jute yarn, jute fibre imports from Bangladesh

Expert artisans ending woven jute carpets in Kerala

Given the restrictions imposed on jute yarn and jute fibre imports from Bangladesh, Jute Shippers Council has urged the Centre to incorporate Cochin Port apart from Nhava Sheva within the listing of permitted ports for such shipments.

Cochin Port, with its glorious connectivity to coir and jute processing clusters, is ideally positioned to facilitate these imports seamlessly and cost-effectively. Permitting imports via Cochin Port will cut back transit time and prices for MSME models in southern India and help the Authorities’s imaginative and prescient of selling value-added exports from the southern area, stated Arjun Mahadevan, president of Jute Shippers Council.

In a illustration to the Union Commerce Minister, Piyush Goyal, the Council identified that limiting imports solely via Nhava Sheva locations a heavy logistical and monetary burden on exporters. Transporting jute from Dhaka to Nhava Sheva by sea after which trucking it to Kerala would lead to substantial freight prices and delays, extending lead occasions by 30–40 days. In addition to, Bangladeshi suppliers are prone to enhance costs by ₹5–6 per kg as a result of larger prices of routing shipments by way of Nhava Sheva.

Sustaining jobs

These restrictions, in accordance with the Council, have resulted in important unintended penalties for exporters in Kerala and Tamil Nadu who supply Bangladeshi jute yarn via sellers in Kolkata and add appreciable worth via processes corresponding to dyeing and weaving to supply high-quality jute carpets. This value-addition not solely generates substantial export income but additionally sustains important employment, significantly for girls employees in these areas, Arjun Mahadevan stated.

The Indian jute mills at present don’t provide the grade of jute yarn required by these exporters. The domestically accessible yarn doesn’t meet the technical specs important for manufacturing premium-grade jute carpets. The Central authorities is already procuring jute gunny baggage and sacking at ₹1,10,000 per tonne from these mills, they’re unable to fulfill the necessities of exporters in Kerala and Panipat.

If exporters are compelled to supply jute yarn from Kolkata mills, costs would rise by 20–30 per cent, reaching ₹125–₹130 per kg, whereas product high quality would additionally decline. This could severely impression the competitiveness of India’s jute carpet exports, he added.

The Council additionally requested the Authorities to contemplate allowing sealed containers to maneuver instantly by land from Dhaka to exporters’ premises in Kerala, or to a container freight station in Kochi, to be opened underneath customs supervision earlier than clearance.

Revealed on June 30, 2025