Jute's Second Chance — and the Bangladeshi Bag That Replaces Plastic
Bangladesh plans to double jute exports to $1.64 billion by 2031, and a Bangladeshi scientist's jute-based Sonali Bag decomposes in months where polythene lasts centuries.
By the UISC BD Editorial Desk · United Information Service Center · Published 9 September 2026 · 7-minute read
Jute built modern Bengal's economy long before garments did. Then synthetic fibres arrived, demand collapsed, and the "golden fibre" became a story about industrial decline.
The reason it is worth revisiting now is that the property which made jute uncompetitive against plastic — it rots — is precisely the property the world has started paying for.
The Plan on the Table
Bangladesh has adopted a Jute Sector Development Strategy and Action Plan for 2026–2031, targeting a doubling of annual export earnings from roughly $820 million to $1.64 billion by 2031. The broader stated ambition runs further — transforming jute into a $5 to $7 billion export sector through modernisation, product diversification and stronger private participation.
The country currently earns around $1 billion a year from jute and jute goods. In July 2026, the government announced a joint working group and plans for an International Jute Expo to push export market development.
The $1.64 billion target is demanding but plausible. The $5–7 billion figure should be read as a direction of travel rather than a projection.
The Sonali Bag
The most interesting thing to come out of Bangladeshi jute in decades is not a fabric. It is a bioplastic.
The Sonali Bag — golden bag — was developed by Bangladeshi scientist Mubarak Ahmad Khan, using cellulose extracted from jute as its primary ingredient. It looks and behaves like a polythene bag. It decomposes within a few months, leaving no toxic residue.
The Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation began pilot manufacturing at the Latif Bawani Jute Mills in Demra in 2017. Importers in Europe, Japan, the UAE and across Africa have since expressed interest.
The Obstacle, Stated Plainly
Sonali Bag production costs remain close to double that of conventional polythene. That single fact explains why a product invented in 2017 has not displaced plastic bags in its own country, let alone globally.
Cost gaps of that kind close in one of two ways: manufacturing scale brings unit costs down, or regulation prices in the environmental cost of the alternative. Bangladesh has attempted the second — it was the first country in the world to ban thin polythene bags, back in 2002 — with enforcement that has been, by most accounts, inconsistent.
The lesson generalises well beyond Bangladesh: inventing a sustainable substitute is the easier half of the problem. Making it cheaper than the unsustainable incumbent is the half that decides whether it matters.
Where the Larger Market May Be
The consumer bag is the most visible application but probably not the most commercially important. The global geotextiles market — worth roughly $9.3 billion in 2026 — uses fabrics in construction, erosion control and land stabilisation, and biodegradable natural-fibre variants are gaining ground against synthetics.
Jute geotextiles hold soil on an eroding embankment while vegetation establishes, then break down harmlessly. In a delta country managing erosion continuously as part of its climate adaptation programme, that is a product with a domestic market as well as an export one.
Why the Timing Favours It
Jute requires little fertiliser, grows in delta conditions without irrigation infrastructure, absorbs carbon dioxide as it grows, and supports smallholder farmers rather than large plantations. Sixty years ago those characteristics were commercially irrelevant. Under carbon accounting and plastic regulation, they are assets.
Bangladesh has the growing conditions, the mills, the farming knowledge and now the science. Whether the golden fibre becomes a serious export sector again depends on execution over the next five years — and on whether anyone succeeds in closing that cost gap.
Related reading
- Bangladesh's Artisan Economy and a $1.1 Trillion Global Market
- FAO 2026: Bangladesh Is Second in the World for Inland Fisheries
- India Put an Earth-Watching Satellite in a Fixed Orbit Over the Region
- Bangladesh Is the World's Third-Largest Rice Producer
Sources
- "Bangladesh targets up to $7bn in jute exports through sector modernisation," bne IntelliNews — intellinews.com
- "What Bangladesh's golden fibre needs to become a climate-era export," The Daily Star — thedailystar.net
- "Bangladesh moves to expand jute exports thru diplomacy," BSS News — bssnews.net
- "Sonali bag finally finds buyers but can't meet demand," The Business Standard — tbsnews.net
- "Bangladesh continues promotion of biodegradable bags amid battle against polythene," Mongabay — news.mongabay.com
