Report April 2026

Raw material quality is the first determinant of final yarn and rope strength. Impurities and defects present weak points. Batching also has an effect, the type and ratio to water critical. From a mill’s perspective, the cheapest and minimum quantity of oil required is always a significant consideration.

All batching oils, including mineral JBO depend on price impacted by global events. Vegetable Oil Treatment batching may use alternatives to more costly soybean oil, which smells distinctively nutty; grassy; slightly green bean. Jute batched with environmentally unsustainable palm oil will smell sweeter; faintly of carrots. Rice bran oil smells of raw nuts; rice grains. Castor oil earthy; slightly acrid. Type of oil and ratio, even ±0.5% will influence fibre strength.

We have to consider regional mindsets, combined with experience. Indian sub–continent business mantra typically, ‘You will get exactly what you specified.’ which, as repeatedly encountered is incredibly risky in which to place faith. Jute mills predominantly produce yarns for applications where overall quality, impurities, tolerances, fibre loss, hairiness, etc. are of lower importance, reflected in attitudes to quality control.

It’s imperative to control everything. Even so, mistakes occur, and we do our best to train production and maintain quality. Most errors are time oversights, where machine handlers running several lines miss things, eg. don’t get feed yarns or strands correctly tensioned. Increasing operators to improve quality control require wages, adding more cost onto raw jute prices spiralling upwards. We’re already advised next production may cost an extra 10~15%, and we’ll have to increase our prices at that point.

Coarse yarns (>14lb) are used for sackings, cordage, carpet backing, although we’re hearing CB yarns (CRT, CRM, etc.) are getting increasingly difficult to procure as the carpet industry moves to man–made materials. Medium count yarns (10~14lb) are used for loose woven products (Hessian, wall coverings, upholstery). Fine count (<10lb) are used in apparel and fashion accessories where yarns will be tightly woven, sometimes bleached.

Bleaching makes jute much softer, but seriously reduces tensile strength because it removes lignin and hemicellulose from the fibre. This can result in an equivalence to tying with the strength of a ø4mm rope when you’re using ø6mm. Rope made with bleached yarn is easy to identify because it will feel underweight, be very soft, and an unnatural light colour.

All yarn is spun as single–ply, and can be combined multiple–ply counter–twisted later. This introduces other dynamics, such as the fourth, unnecessary twist. Theoretically, multiple–ply yarn should be as strong as single–ply. However, prevalent count intolerances always compromise results. Maintaining cross–sectional bulk diameter in finer yarn spinning is challenging, made worse with disregard to quality control. Combining intolerance magnifies as it’s twisted to strands and counter–twisted to rope.

Large mills produce up to 150 tonnes yarn per day. Specification changeover is downtime taking many hours. They want to run 3–shift 24/7, so to develop a speciality yarn such as our KI grade for shibari asanawa was never possible until our mill went operational, and in minimum quantities of 10,000kg. If you want something special in a small quantity, it will commonly come from existing stocks of leftover yarns not designed for our application, as noted in the various yarn counts and plies seen in jute rope products dubiously marketed for shibari over the years.

When you purchase jute rope, it’s important to listen to it. Test its strength by putting your own weight on it before using it on others. If you hear crackling noises, this is the sound of micro–ruptures in the fibre as the key hemicellulose filament binding has been lost in eg. bleaching. Jute has extremely low elongation before break. If your rope is crackling and stretching it is highly inadvisable to support bodyweight safely.

Finally, news from Bangladesh. In 2020, Sheikh Hasina’s corrupt government announced withdrawal of support and closure of 26 state–owned jute mills, leading to serious instability in the market. Demand is now ~150% above supply. Toppled by student protests in August 2024, Hasina fled to India having stolen an estimated $234 billion. On March 6th President Shahabuddin announced National Jute Day, waived loans and interest repayments to farmers, and called for innovation in the jute industry.

A wave effect is predicted as lack of raw jute fibre supply limits yarn production, in turn compromising availability to rope–makers, pushing up pricing. The hope is, now raw jute commands a value ~225% higher over the past decade, farmers will see the prospects and increase production again. Hopefully, with government help.