THE JUTE INDUSTRY 



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The fluctuation in the price of the raw material is often, influenced by the size of the 

 crop, but in spite of a forecast of practically a 10,000,000 bales crop, the prices for 1912 

 were very high. New uses are continually being found for the jute fibre, so that the 

 whole of the large crop is not available for what were originally the few typical types of 

 simple yarns and fabrics. The crop in 1906 was a record one, but the figures compiled 

 by Messrs. W. F. Souter & Co. show that this has been exceeded since: 



A good idea of the expansion of the jute trade in various countries can be gathered 

 from the estimated consumptions in 1906 and 1912: 



The figures shows clearly that over half the total jute is used in India. Although 

 the expansion in India was checked somewhat a few years ago, the new factory act has 

 probably been the cause of many extensions which have been, and are still being made 

 in that country. In 1906, there were 26,799 looms and 520,980 spindles for jute, where- 

 as at present there are over 32,700 looms and 650,000 spindles. 



Within the last few years there has been a development in the spinning of finer jute 

 yarns in the Dundee district, and it is hoped that this development will lead to a corre- 

 ponding movement in the manufacture of cloths from these yarns. They are used 

 already for cloths intended for ladies' hats, and might well be adopted for other articles 

 of clothing. 



A new textile thread, or at least a combination of paper and fibre, termed " textilose," 

 has recently been introduced for uses similar to those in vogue for jute yarns. So far 

 as cloth is concerned, it appears to be used only for coarse sacking. 



In the methods of spinning and weaving jute, improvements are constantly being 

 introduced with the object of consuming less power, of improving the quality of the work 

 and of facilitating the operations generally so as to increase production. 



