The government has brought 11 more agricultural products under the purview of its compulsory jute packaging rule to further accelerate domestic use of the natural fibre.

The newly-added commodities are chilli, turmeric, onion, ginger, garlic, pulses, coriander, potato, flour and rice bran, according to a notice issued by the textiles and jute ministry yesterday.

“We will now go for massive awareness campaigns to motivate all to comply with the rule,” said Mosleh Uddin, director general of the Department of Jute (DoJ).

The order comes at a time when the manufacturers of jute goods face antidumping duty imposed by India. The neighbouring country on January 5 slapped an antidumping duty on the import of jute and jute goods from Bangladesh and Nepal to protect the domestic industry.

For Bangladesh's jute goods exporters, the duty ranges between $19 and $352 per tonne -- a measure that is likely to affect shipments of jute products to India.

India accounted for 17 percent of the 8.25 lakh tonnes of jute goods exports registered in fiscal 2015-16, according to data compiled by the DoJ.

The inclusion of the new commodities is expected to create an additional demand for 7.26 lakh bales (1.32 lakh tonnes) of jute a year, according to an estimate by the DoJ.

Bangladesh started enforcing the mandatory packaging rule for six commodities, including rice, wheat and maize, by the end of 2014 to curb the use of environmentally harmful plastic bags.

Industry insiders said the domestic use of jute has increased because of the enforcement of the rule.

The DoJ estimates that jute goods production rose to 9.63 lakh tonnes last fiscal year, up 11 percent from a year earlier.

Increased demand also encouraged farmers to raise acreage in the last cultivation season.

Farmers grew jute on 7.38 lakh hectares and harvested 82.47 lakh bales of jute in fiscal 2016-17, up 9 percent year-on-year, according to provisional data from Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.