The Ministry of Textiles has, through an order dated 30th November, 2018, directed that compulsory packaging of food grains and sugar in jute packaging material for supply or distribution in the following manner till 30th June, 2019:
| Sl. No. | Commodities | Minimum percentage of total production of commodity or class of commodities required to be packed in jute packaging material manufactured in India from raw jute produced in India |
| 1. | Foodgrains | Hundred per cent. (100%) of the production
(Initially ten percent of the indents for food grains would be placed through reverse auction on the Government e-Marketplace portal by the State Procurement Agencies.)
|
| 2. | Sugar | Twenty per cent. (20%) of the production
(In diversified jute bags under direct purchase by the procuring agencies from the mills or open market.) |
It may be noted that:
(1) In case the jute mills fail to supply through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal within thirty days, the Ministry of Textiles will allow an upfront dilution of the mandatory packaging norms and the allocation formula for the Production-cum-Supply Orders will be modified to incentivise participation of jute mills in the GeM portal.
(2) In case of any shortage or disruption in supply of jute packaging material or in case of any other contingency or exigency, the Ministry of Textiles may allow for a dilution of the above mentioned percentages upto a maximum of 30%.
Further, the Ministry may allow exemption from compulsory use of jute packaging material in the following cases:
a)Sugar fortified with vitamins;
b)Packaging for export of commodities;
c)Small consumer packs of ten kilograms and below for foodgrains and twenty-five kilograms and below for sugar;
d)Bulk packaging of more than one hundred kilograms;
e)Sugar packed for export but which could not be exported on the basis of an assessment and recommendation by Department of Food and Public Distribution.
Source: Ministry of Textiles
