KOLKATA: The Centre has fixed a ceiling price of two varieties of raw jute at Rs 6,500 per quintal in West Bengal to prevent hoarding as the commodity is being sold at Rs 7,200 or more in the market, an official said on Saturday.
This price ceiling will be effective till June 2022, he said. "The Jute Commissioner, the regulator of the sector, has put a price ceiling of raw jute (TDN3 and WN3 varieties) at Rs 6,500 per quintal in the state to discourage hoarding as the price has touched Rs 7,200 a quintal," an official said.
The ceiling price of the raw jute has been fixed at Rs 6,800 per quintal in other states. The price control measure will be in place for the current jute season (July-June), he said. "This means the government will consider raw jute price at Rs 6,500 per quintal while calculating the jute bag price," an industry source said.
Mills will incur losses if the market price of the raw material is higher than the ceiling one, he said. "In the current year, production is huge and several farmers and traders are holding the crop till now. The order may dampen their plan to hoard the commodity," the source said.
With the rising prices, local traders in all the jute producing districts had started storing raw jute at their houses to sell the commodity at a premium price in future.