HISTORY

Long before the invention of polymeric fibres, natural fibres were spun to make yarns
and yarns were woven to make cloth, ropes and similar products. Jute fibres derived from
the plant of the same name were in the initial stages used to manufacture sackcloth and
hessian principally. Over the years, with the advancement of technology, versatility of
jute fibres has been discovered. Jute fibres are now being used not only for making
sacks, but for sophisticated textile products for diverse end-uses also. It is a fascinating
journey of jute stamping it as one of the oldest surviving agro-industries of the world.

JUTE

Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It
is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, family Tiliaceae.

Jute is one of the cheapest natural fibres and is second only to cotton in amount produced and variety of uses.
Jute fibres are composed primarily of the plant materials cellulose (major component of plant fibre) and lignin
(major components wood fibre). It is thus a ligno-cellulosic fibre that is partially a textile fibre and partially
wood. It falls into the bast fibre category (fibre collected from bast or skin of the plant) along with kenaf,
industrial hemp, flax (linen), ramie, etc. The industrial term for jute fibre is raw jute. The fibres are off-white to
brown, and 1–4 meters (3–12 feet) long.
Jute has been cultivated in the Bengal Delta from time immemorial. A leafy reed-like plant, it thrives under hot,
humid, monsoon conditions growing to typically three metres in height over a period of four to six months.
Ancient manuscripts mention jute as early as 800 B.C., when its leaves were used as a vegetable or for
medicinal purpose. The use of jute fibre, which is extracted from the thin bark and the woody core of the reed, is
recorded in India in the early sixteenth century. At that time it was spun by hand into ropes and woven into
cloth. Cultivation of jute was not developed to any great extent, however, until the nineteenth century.

The story of jute as a commercial fibre began with the initiative of the East India Company when it sent samples
of jute, then known as “Indian Grass” to the United Kingdom in 1791. Some 30 years later, jute was introduced
to Dundee, which had been a centre for weaving coarse textiles for several hundred years and was, therefore the
best place in the United Kingdom for the newly imported fibre. From woollens, Dundee concentrated on linens
made from the fibre of the flax plant and it was the flax linen industry that jute largely superseded. Another
factor that established jute in Dundee was the discovery that by softening jute fibre with whale oil it was
possible to spin it into yarn on flax spinning frames. At that time, Dundee was a whaling port and a ready source
of whale oil. Today mineral oil is used to soften jute.

Cultivation

Jute needs a plain alluvial soil and standing water. The suitable climate for growing jute (warm and wet climate)
is offered by the monsoon climate during the monsoon season. Temperatures ranging 20˚ C to 40˚ C and relative
humidity of 70%–80% are favourable for successful cultivation. Jute requries 5–8 cm of rainfall weekly with
extra needed during the sowing period.

White jute (Corchorus capsularis)

Several historical documents (especially, Ain-e-Akbari by Abul Fazal in 1590) during the era of Mughal
Emperor Akbar (1542–1605) state that the poor villagers of India used to wear clothes made of jute. Simple
handlooms and hand spinning wheels were used by the weavers, who used to spin cotton yarns as well. History
also states that Indians, especially Bengalis, used ropes and twines made of white jute from ancient times for
household and other uses.

Tossa jute (Corchorus olitorius)

Tossa jute (Corchorus olitorius) is an Afro-Arabian variety. It is quite popular for its leaves that are used as an
ingredient in a mucilaginous potherb called molokhiya (‫ ملوخية‬a word of uncertain etymology), popular in
certain Arab countries. The Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible mentions this vegetable potherb as Jew's mallow.
Tossa jute fibre is softer, silkier, and stronger than white jute. This variety astonishingly showed good
sustainability in the climate of the Ganges Delta. Along with white jute, tossa jute has also been cultivated in the
soil of Bengal from the start of the 19th century. Currently, the Bengal region (West Bengal, India, and
Bangladesh) is the largest global producer of the tossa jute variety.

JUTE HISTORY

For centuries, jute has been an integral part of Bengali culture, which is shared by both Bangladesh and West
Bengal of India. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, much of the raw jute fibre of Bengal were exported to the
United Kingdom, where it was then processed in mills concentrated in Dundee ("jute weaver" was a recognised
trade occupation in the 1901 UK census), but this trade had largely ceased by about 1970 due to the entrance of
synthetic fibres.

When George Auckland an Englishman, set up the first jute spinning mill on banks of river Hooghly, West
Bengal in 1855, little did he realise that he had planed the first seeds of a giant Indian industry. Since then,
Indian jute has come a long way. True the going has been tough., but today the industry can boast of a wide
range of jute products available and are in huge demand in both the markets in India and abroad. The invention
of new end-uses alongwith the preference for eco-friendly and bio-degradable products the world over has been
an important factor for the increasing demand for Jute products.

Jute has entered many diverse sectors of industry, where natural fibres are gradually becoming better substitutes.
Among these industries are paper, celluloid products (films), non-woven textiles, composites (pseudo-wood),
and geotextiles.

Jute is a rain-fed crop with little need for fertilizer or pesticides. The production is concentrated in India
and Bangladesh. The jute fibre comes from the stem and ribbon (outer skin) of the jute plant. The fibres are
first extracted by retting. The retting process consists of bundling jute stems together and immersing them
in low, running water. There are two types of retting: stem and ribbon. After the retting process, stripping
begins. Women and children usually do this job. In the stripping process, non-fibrous matter is scraped off,
then the workers dig in and grab the fibres from within the jute stem.

India with overall of ~58% of worlds production tops the production of jute. Bangladesh with ~33% lies at
second position followed way behind by China with ~3%.

No of Jute Mills
Organised Sector
: 78

Annual Production : 1.6 Million MT

Workers Employed : 266 Thousand (direct & indirect)

Families dependant : 4 million household (direct & indirect)

Main Products Manufactured : Sacking, Hessian, Carpet Backing Cloth, Yarn, Food Grade
Products, Geo-textiles
No. of registered : 700 units ( approx. )
units

Total : 63000 ( approx. )

Employment

Main Products : Jute Bags

Manufactured Jute Blended Fabrics
Jute Blended Carpets
Giftware
Handicrafts
Decorative Articles

Strengths of Indian jute sector

• The largest producer of raw jute in the world.

• The biggest manufacturer of jute goods in the world

• Stable and established domestic market encouraging innovations, research and development,
establishment of packaging standards.

• A highly diversified production base manufacturing the widest range of products

• Quality conscious--employing most modern facilities for TQC.

• Export history of raw jute and jute manufacture dates back to over 100 years.

• Enjoys the support of fully developed infrastructure like ports, shipping facilities etc.
• Comprehensive and world class research and development facilities in the area of jute agriculture,
product development and machinery design.

INDIAN JUTE MILLS

• Andhra Pradesh
Assam
Bihar
Chattisgarh
Orissa
Uttar Pradesh
Tripura
West Bengal
TRADITIONAL PRODUCTS
• HESSIAN
• YARN
• FOOD GRADE JUTE PRODUCTS (USING RBO II TECHNOLOGY & SATISFYING IJO98/01
STANDARD)
• SACKING
• CARPET BACKING CLOTH

LIFESTYLE PRODUCTS

• HOME FURNISHINGS
• HAND AND SHOPPING BAGS

Source : national jute board