Textile and jute minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak on Thursday told Jatiya Sangsad that Bangladesh government earned about Tk 10,454 crore by exporting jute from 2013-13 to 2022-23 financial years.
He came up with the disclosure during the question and answer session in the ongoing budget session of the parliament responding to a question from ruling Awami League lawmaker Morshed Alam.
Stating that 19.07 lakh metric tonnes of raw jute have been exported from Bangladesh in 10 years, the minister said that jute was exported to 135 countries including India, Pakistan, China, Nepal, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Djibouti, Vietnam, Austria, the United States, Spain, Germany, Mexico, France, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Turkey, Indonesia, Belgium, Tunisia, Kenya, Uganda and Singapore.
In response to a question of AL lawmaker AFM Bahauddin Nashim, Nanak said that under an advance technology-based jute and jute seed production and expansion project from 2018 to June 2024, 12.9 lakh metric tonnes of raw jute and 2,164 metric tonnes of jute seeds had been produced.
In response to a question of independent lawmaker Saddam Hussain Pavel, the minister said that there was a demand for about seven billion metric tonnes of textiles in the local market of the country currently.
There is no shortage of demand for textiles in the local market of the country, he said, adding that in terms of export of readymade garments, the demand for woollen and denim fabrics is about eight billion metric tonnes.
Of this, about four billion metric tonnes are produced domestically and about four billion metric tonnes are imported the minister said.
In terms of export of ready-made garments, however, the demand for net yarn is about 16 lakh metric tonnes, he said.
Out of this, about 12 lakh metric tonnes of yarn is produced in the country and there is a shortfall of about four lakh metric tonnes which are imported.
Imports are mainly from China and India to meet the shortage of wool and denim, he said.
He said that industrial entrepreneurs were setting up new textile and yarn-producing industries in the country.
As a result, the shortage of woven and denim fabrics for the export of ready-made garments will gradually decrease, he added.