Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation has been provided loan of Tk 100 crore by the government for procurement of raw jute from cultivators across the country. The loan will be disbursed among its 26 jute mills.

Finance Division has promised to disburse another Tk100 crore from the government exchequer after Eid-ul-fitr holidays, as the jute ministry had sought fund just two days before Eid holidays began for immediate use like payment of workers’ wages to avert agitation, according to official sources.

However, the corporation sought Tk700 crore to buy the golden fibre during the July-August peak season and purchase after the season sees a 50% rise in price.

Textiles and jute ministry officials said that the biggest problem the state-owned companies had been facing for years was that it could not buy raw jute in time.

BJMC chairman Humayun Khaled said that the state-owned jute mills are running at half of their 700 tonnes-a-day capacity for want of raw jute as they would not be able to procure any of raw jute from market due to fund shortage whereas the private mills were piling it on.