Emirates’ cargo arm to help boost India’s jute biz

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Kolkata: Recession brings together strange bedfellows as Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates Airline, is looking at promoting Indian jute merchandise to boost its business from India.

Emirates SkyCargo, which carries over 100 tonne of cargo per week per direction on seven weekly flights from Kolkata, is taking five jute merchandise manufacturers from the city to Dubai to showcase their products.

Meanwhile, Indian jute industry, which is passing through a crisis period, is looking forward to newer destinations for jute products. "We are excited about exporting products to Middle East," said an official of the Indian Jute Mills Association. According to IJMA, almost 30% of the export order may be cancelled owing to global economic crisis.

Indian jute products have a market in countries like Turkey, Syria and Saudi Arabia and also in European countries like Germany. It exported 250,000 tonne of jute during the 2007-08 fiscal. It is expecting the exports to drop to 200,000 tonne in 2008-09.

"We will help the local jute exporters in showcasing their products in Dubai," said Halim Modassir, Emirates' cargo manager (east India).

The cargo service provider consumes 2,000-3,000 kg of jute merchandise every year for its own usage. The carrier has started exporting small consignments of jute bags as small shipments from Kolkata to Dubai from October this year.

"Our target is to carry 20 million tonne of jute merchandise from next year," Modassir said.

Emirates SkyCargo is also looking at enhancing flower cargo from Kolkata. It carries 300 kg of flower per week from Kolkata and is planning to increase that by 2009-10, Modassir said.