ABSTRACT
As mentioned earlier, up to 1947 Bangladesh had no jute industry of its own (except for some baling presses), all the raw jute being exported. With the snapping of this trade link soon after Partition, the jute industry was developed, mainly by Pakistani capital, active government sponsorship through the newly-established Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation. In 1955 there were seven jute mills employing 28 thousand people, and by 1963 this had risen to 20 mills employing 70 thousand, (Ahmad). The industry grew fairly rapidly, in terms of installed capacity as well as output, until 1969–70, but has been relatively stagnant since then. 22 Between 1966–67 and 1970–71, the number of looms installed went up 14,603 to 23,781 (the number of mills being respectively 29 and 68), but between then and 1983–84, loomage crept up to 25,881, representing in fact a decline from the 1980–81 peak at 29,791. Output followed a roughly similar pattern, rising from 158 thousand tons in 1957–58 to 561 thousand tons in 1969–70, a peak not matched again until 1980–81 (581 thousand tons), and declining to 536 thousand tons in 1983–84. Since the bulk of the output was exported, exports also followed a similar pattern. 23
