Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, family Malvaceae.

Jute is one of the cheapest natural fibers, and is second only to cotton in amount produced and variety of uses. Jute fibres are composed primarily of the plant materials, cellulose (major component of plant fibre) and lignin (major components wood fibre). It is thus a ligno-cellulosic fibre that is partially a textile fibre and partially wood. It falls into the bast fibre category (fibre collected from bast or skin of the plant) along with Kenaf, Industrial Hemp, Flax (Linen), Ramie, etc. The industrial term for Jute fibre is Raw Jute.

Jute fibre is often called hessian, jute fabrics are also called hessian cloth, and jute sacks are called gunny bags in some European countries. The fabric made from jute is popularly known as burlap in North America.

After the procurement of jute fibre through the Retting Process, jute is graded (rated) according to its colour, strength, and fibre length. The fibres are off-white to brown, and 1-4 meters (3-12 feet) long. Jute is pressed into bales for shipment to manufacturers. From there, a typical processing sequence may include cutting, carding, drawing, spinning, reeling, plying, and twisting.

The suitable climate for growing jute (warm and wet climate) is offered by the monsoon climate during the monsoon season. Temperatures ranging 20 ºC to 40 ºC and relative humidity of 70%-80% are favourable for successful cultivation. Jute requries 5-8 cm of rainfall weekly with extra needed during the sowing period.

CULTIVATION AND HISTORY

To grow jute, farmers scatter the seeds on cultivated soil. When the plants are about 15-20 cm tall, they are thinned out. About four months after planting, harvesting begins. The plants are usually harvested after they flower, but before the flowers go to seed. The stalks are cut off close to the ground. The stalks are tied into bundles and soaked in water (retting) for about 20 days. This process softens the tissues and breaks the hard pectin bond between the bast and jute hurd (inner woody fibre stick) and the process permits the fibres to be separated. The fibres are then stripped from the stalks in long strands and washed in clear, running water. Then they are hung up or spread on thatched roofs to dry. After 2-3 days of drying, the fibres are tied into bundles. In order to produce a broader use of jute for decorative, furnishing, and apparel products, further processing needs to occur. This would include dyeing and finishing, as well as scourging or bleaching initially.

For centuries, Jute has been an integral part of Bengali culture, which is shared by Both Bangladesh and West Bengal of India. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, much of the raw jute fibre was exported to the United Kingdom, where it was then processed in mills concentrated in Dundee ("Jute Weaver" was a recognised trade occupation in the 1901 UK census), but this trade had largely ceased by about 1970 due to the entrance of synthetic fibres.

Magaret Donnelly I, was a jute mill landowner in Dundee in the 1800's. She set up the first jute mills in India. In the 1950's and 1960's when nylon and polythene were rarely used, the United Pakistan (then the world leader in Jute products) was earning money through jute of East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. It was called the Golden Fibre of Bangladesh, when it used to bring major portion of the foreign currency reserve for Bangladesh. But, as the use of polythene and other synthetic materials as a substitute for jute started to capture the market, most economists said that jute industry is experiencing a decline. For several years, farmers in Bangladesh burnt their crops as they did not get an adequate price. Many exporters that were dealing with jute found other commodities to deal with. The jute related organisations and government bodies also experienced closures, change, and fund cutting. The long decline in demand forced the largest jute mill in the world (Adamjee Jute Mills) to close. Latif Bawany Jute Mills, the second largest, is still running but was nationalized by the government from prominent businessman, Yahya Bawany. But the farmers of Bangladesh surprisingly did not stop growing jute, mainly due to demand in the internal market. Recently, (2004-2006) the jute market turned back again and the price of raw jute increased more than 50% due to high demand of jute products worldwide.

During 1941, Henry Ford tested the strength of a car trunk made from soybean fibre. The trunk was made of soy-protein plastic reinforced with glass, which was stronger, lighter, and more flexible than conventional car panels. This experiment revolutionised the use of natural fibres in the Automobile Industry and made cars lighter to burn less gasoline. The previously used glass fibre proved to be very heavy and emitted poisonous gas when burnt. Therefore, most people died of poisonous gas inhalation, not by wounds during car accidents. This fact has driven the European Union to ban the use of glass fibre in automobiles. When Henry Ford's experiment gained huge response, the automobile companies started to search for other bast fibres, as soyabean fibre had problems in moulding. They found that, flax was the best bast fibre for the automobile interior production. It has been shown that flax, jute, and hemp fibres contain characteristics such as ductile structure and stiffness per unit of weight that result in benefits during side impacts. But, jute was recognised as the next to the best at a quite late time. In some cases, jute has become the better option than flax in producing car interiors. Moreover, jute proved to be the most cost effective fibre in this sector, as jute is the cheapest vegetable fibre with very high tensile strength. However, there are contrasting information regarding this history. Some say that, the car trunk of soy-protein plastic reinforced with glass was invented by an African American employee of Ford Motor Company Other uses for natural fibres now includes composite production of sheet moulding compound, resin transfer moulding, and vacuum pressing techniques and injection.