Japanese paper makers and trading majors are ready to set up joint ventures in jute-growing countries to make jute pulp for their paper requirement, according to the secretary general of the International Jute Study Group (IJSG) AFM Sarwar Kamal. 'Officials of Mitsui and another company met us recently with an offer to buy back the entire production of jute pulp that any private company here ventures to produce,'said Sawar Kamal, Kamal who was here for the fifth meeting of the private sector consultative board (PSCB) of the IJSG, said that the Bangladesh government has already set up a working committee to study the issues. He said Japan imports wood-based pulp worth nearly $400 million a year, and a switch to pulp based on jute or allied natural fibres like kenaf would cut costs. In Thailand, he said, some companies are making paper from kenaf, an allied fibre. However, jute goods manufacturers have some reservations. For one, the jute crop is available for only around three months of the year, so there could be storage problems. For making jute pulp, the entire plant is used, unlike the process for extracting the golden fibre used to make sacking and other goods. Second, the question of guaranteed purchase of the pulp so that their investment is protected. At present, there is no jute-pulp manufacturer in India. Wednesday's meeting also discussed a demand by Eurojute, a private body of European jute-goods importers, that the standard jute contract form be changed to allow for arbitration of all disputes in London. At present, such disputes are settled in the exporters' country. Recently, jute got a shock when a major US cigarette manufacturer told its tobacco suppliers to use cartons instead of jute hessian sheets to pack the leaf, since it finds disposal of jute sacking a problem in the US.
