Indian Anti-Dumping Duties Are Severely Hurting Bangladesh’s Jute Sector — Duties ranging from $19 to $352 per tonne have caused exports to India to plummet (down 18% year-on-year to 1.17 lakh tonnes in 2024-25), threatening rural livelihoods, mill workers, and the industry’s viability.

The Duties Are Seen as Protectionist and Unfair — Bangladesh argues the measures are unjustified given higher production costs, modest incentives, and India’s overall trade surplus, with the logic of “gaining market share amid falling demand” described as circular and convenient for Indian mills.

Bangladesh Needs a Multi-Pronged Strategic Response — The article calls for vigorous diplomatic and legal pushback, stronger enforcement of domestic jute packaging laws, aggressive market diversification, product innovation, value addition, and entrepreneurship to transform the “golden fiber” into a $5–7 billion sustainable export sector.

For centuries, jute has been more than a commodity for Bangladesh; it has been the “golden fiber” that has sustained rural livelihoods, powered export earnings, and shaped national identity. Yet today, this heritage industry finds itself under siege. India, once Bangladesh’s largest market for jute and jute goods, is poised to continue and potentially intensify anti-dumping duties that have already choked exports and threatened the viability of an entire sector. The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) recently released findings from its mid-term review, concluding that Bangladeshi exporters continued to dump jute products and recommending the continuation of duties ranging from $19 to $352 per tonne. For Bangladesh, the stakes could not be higher. 

India first imposed these anti-dumping duties in 2017, later expanding their scope to include jute sacking cloth. In June 2025, following appeals from the Indian Jute Mills Association and the AP Mesta Twine Mills Association, the DGTR initiated a mid-term review to examine whether duties should be enhanced. The findings are stark: Bangladesh’s jute goods exports to India fell by 18 percent year-on-year to 1.17 lakh tonnes in 2024-25, down from 1.43 lakh tonnes the........

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