"Such a decision has shocked the jute industry as well as the members of the Bangladesh Jute Mills Association," said a statement of the BJMA. It also termed the decision as a 'stab to the ailing jute industry'.

The cabinet at a meeting on November 10 took a decision allowing limited uses of polypropylene bags for packing of 10 per cent fertiliser produced in a domestic factory.

The packing of fertiliser either with an inner laminated layer or without it has always been the practice in the past and at present as well in all the fertiliser factories in the country, the statement said.

It said there has never been any complain with the technology either from the stock-holders or by the traders. Over the years, jute bags have proven their worth both environmentally and economically in the fertiliser factories.

The statement said the use of damaging synthetics such as polypropylene was by the government and the Ministry of Environment was appreciated for prohibiting uses of polypropylene or polythene.

But, a 'vested quarter' in the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) has misled the Ministry of Industries to replace jute bags through use of polypropylene which will halt growth of jute-based industries, it said.