RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE JUTE INDUSTRY
| Published date | 01 February 1960 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9485.1960.tb00121.x |
| Date | 01 February 1960 |
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE JUTE INDUSTRY
I
THE
jute industry has claims to uniqueness on several counts, and
its
sequence
of
development has been a catalogue of instability and frustra-
tion. Its beginnings were,
to
a more than usual extent, the result
of
chance, its rapid expansion, from
1850
to
1880,
had an unhealthy
re-
lationship to wars, and the period of its maturity, from
1890
onwards,
has been characterised by long-term contraction punctuated by violent
swings from hectic prosperity
to
severe recession. The present time,
when the industry
is
showing a greater degree
of
co-operation and
a
much more determined attitude
in
the face of its problems, seems
a
suit-
able one for some assessment
of
its position and prospects. This is par-
ticularly
so
for an industry which is of vital local significance and
of
importance
to
Scotland as
a
whole.
The first peculiarity
is
the concentration of its raw material supply
in Bengal, and now largely in that part of Bengal which is in East
Pakistan. (In
1947,
the year
of
partition, East Pakistan contained
80
per cent. of the growing area of Bengal.) Alternative sources of supply
have been sought elsewhere in the world, ranging from Thailand and
Formosa to South America, but until recently nowhere with much suc-
cess. (In recent months, deliveries
of
samples
of
jute grown in Burma
suggest the possibility of future large-scale and high-grade production
there.) In addition
to
this
'
monopolistic
'
state
of
localisation, the
crop
varies considerably, both in quantity and quality, from one season to
the next. Jute
is
a crop that must have humid conditions and
it
depends
absolutely on the monsoon, a completely unpredictable factor, both
from its effect on growth and from the excessive danger
of
flooding in
an area where a protuberance twenty feet above sea level is a
'
hill
'.
In
addition, jute is the only cash crop available to the Bengali peasant,
who
depends upon
it
for his spending power.
As
a result he tends
to
adjust his sowing policy to changes in
price
in a way which western
economic thinking regards as
'
illogical
'.
A
period
of
low prices may
tend to produce increased sowings in order to
try
to reach a customary
standard
of
living, while high prices may tend
to
diminish sowings.
This reaction, familiar in all raw material crops produced by large
numbers
of
small
peasant operators, further aggravates the overall
problem
of
supply and price, and despite great efforts at control of sow-
ing, little has been achieved.
3
117
118
A.
M.
CARSTAIRS
AND
A.
V.
COLE
Secondly, there is the remarkable concentration of jute manufacture
both in India and in the United Kingdom. Here, Dundee and its im-
mediate environs are dependent to an extraordinary degree on this
industry, despite great efforts to diversify activity in the area. For in-
stance, although only
20
per
cent. of the insured population
of
Dundee
are employed in jute manufacture, many more find employment in
ancillary industries such as machine manufacture and repair, dyeing
and bleaching and dock labour. In addition, the overwhelming domina-
tion of jute in the past prevented the natural growth of alternatives, thus
leaving the solution of the problem of balance largely to government
policy in contemporary times. The Indian concentration of manufacture
is
a
natural result
of
the nearness of the raw material supply to
a
large
and workable seaport and is not directly
our
concern, but it has very
great importance for Dundee. This
is
because India
is
a
member
of
the
Commonwealth and therefore cannot be treated in the purely
‘
econ-
omic
’
way that is a possibility for other European jute manufacturers.
The complications of this situation will be considered later.
Thirdly, jute, in its manufactured state, is only to
a
very small
extent a final consumer product.
Its
demand comes from
a
highly
diverse set of industries who use
it
for intermediate purposes, as back-
ing for carpets and linoleum, as padding and lining for clothes, as
a
constituent of motor car upholstery, as the basis of rope, cordage and
cables and finally as a packing material.
This
means that the jute
manufacturer has many alternative demand outlets, but all are affected
by complexes of factors different from each other. This problem also
has technological repercussions, because most manufacturers produce
many different products and many similar products in quite different
sizes and qualities to suit the needs of individual clients.
All these are basic considerations for the industry, but there are
other complications not unique to jute, but nevertheless serious. First
of all there is the growth of foreign manufacturing capacity. In 1890
Dundee produced
718
of world manufactures, by-1930 this was re-
duced to 1/3 and at the present time it is roughly
1/12.
Meanwhile
the total of world supply of manufactures has moved steadily upwards.
The main competitor is India, which produces more than half the
world’s supply and whose capacity, it is said, could fulfil all world
needs. (It is an argument for protection put forward by European pro-
ducers that their maintenance
in
business prevents an Indian world
monopoly
of
manufacture.) The industry on the Continent has an out-
put which exceeds domestic requirements and therefore has need of an
export market, which means primarily the U.S.A.
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