ABSTRACT
Jute is a crop of early human civilization. Traditional jute technology involved three distinct processing stages: retting and stripping, spinning and weaving. This chapter illustrates the status of the traditional jute industry in Bengal around the mid-nineteenth century. It discusses the triangular competition that emerged after the development of modern jute mills in Dundee and Bengal, and shows how Bengal jute mills came to occupy the monopoly position in the global market. The modern jute industry had a chequered growth pattern in Dundee after a technological breakthrough in 1836, and the same applies to Bengal after 1855, when Dundee technologies were largely adopted. The chapter analyses various sources of comparative advantage that enabled Bengal mills to successfully compete with their counterparts in Dundee, and also their welfare implications. The rapid growth of the industry also attracted migratory labour from the mid-1880s, which changed its labour composition in the subsequent period.
