The jute mills under the Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation (BTMC) have incurred a loss of Tk 3,168.46 crore in the fiscal year 2020-21. Textiles and Jute Minister Golam Dastagir Gazi said this parliament responding to a question from Jatiya Party MP Moshiur Rahman Ranga on Thursday. Read: Diversified jute products fair witnesses huge footfall on closing day The jute mills earned Tk 484.48 crore and spent Tk 3652.94 crore 94 crore during the period, he said. Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury presided over the question and answer session. The Minister said out of 25 jute mills under BTMC, 24 have been shut and one has been rented out. Textile villages are being set up in two of the closed 24 mills. Replying to a query from Dhaka -18 constituency MP Mohammad Habib Hasan of the ruling party, Golam Dastagir Gazi said that at present (Census 2018) there are 589 weaving factories and 1,16,117 units in the country. The weaving industry produces about 47.47crore meters of weaving cloth annually, which meets 28 percent of the country's textile demand (excluding power looms), he said. Read: 'Golden fibre' no longer holds glitter for Khulna jute farmers Replying to a question from Natore-2 MP Shafiqul Islam Shimul, the Minister said that at present the number of looms in the country is 290,282. In reply to a query from MP Begum Lutfunnesa Khan, the Minister said 5.6 lakh tonnes of raw jute have been exported in the 8 months of the current fiscal year.  Besides, 5.86 lakh tonnes raw jute and 7.82 lakh tonnes of jute products have been exported in the fiscal year 2020-21, he added.

Textiles and Jute Minister Golam Dastagir Gazi has said effective steps are being taken to reopen the state-owned jute mills that were closed down last year soon. The mills would be reopened under private management on lease basis. The minister also added that international tenders have already been called in this regard. He came up with these remarks while speaking to the press after joining the monthly coordination meeting of the ministry online on Wednesday afternoon. The minister claimed that  jute farmers are currently  getting a fair price for raw jute as the value and demand of jute has increased across the world. The average price of raw jute in the current jute season is up to Tk 3,000, which is about 50 percent higher than last year, he added. He also said that Bangladesh earned $953.56 million by exporting jute and jute-made products in  the first nine months (July-March) of the current fiscal year 2020-21, which  is 22.94 percent more than the same period last year. The growth is also around 10.64 percent higher than the target, the minister said. He hoped that not only would the old workers be rehabilitated, but also new employment opportunities will be created once these privately run mills become operational. On July 1 last year, 25 jute mills under the control of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) were declared closed with the aim of creating a competitive environment in the jute sector.

Jute mill workers staged a demonstration to press home a 14-point set of demands, including reopening of the 25 state-owned jute mills, in the city's Khalishpur area on Monday.

Textiles and Jute Minister Golam Dastagir Gazi on Monday said the government is working to ensure that the farmers get the fair price for their produced jute.

The government has decided to shut down production of 25 state-run jute mills under Bangladesh Jute Mill Corporation (BJMC) by providing cent percent dues of some 25,000 workers of the mills.

A total of 159 eminent citizens on Tuesday demanded immediate reversal of the decision to close down all the mills under the state-owned Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC)in the face of unremitting losses.

BNP on Monday described the government’s decision to shut down state-owned jute mills sending around 25,000 workers into early retirement through 'golden handshake' as an anti-people one.

State-owned jute mill workers in Khulna returned to factories on Saturday after five days of continuous protests halting protest that cost the government millions of taka.

Workers of nine state-owned jute mills in Khulna and Jashore continued their fast-unto-death for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday.