Kolkata, Oct 28 (PTI) A body of millers has informed the Centre that raw jute trading allegedly came to a halt after the government fixed a ceiling price at Rs 6,500 per quintal, and this may lead to a disruption in production of bags for foodgrain packaging, an official said on Thursday. In a letter to textiles ministry secretary Upendra Prasad Singh, Indian Jute Mills Association said the market has "become barren with no raw jute available at the price". Farmers are reluctant to offload their produce at the ceiling price set by the Jute Commissioner, it claimed. "Mills are vulnerable with their stock of raw jute and average industry stock is hovering at capacity for around 20 days only. Therefore, production of jute bags is likely to get disrupted," IJMA director general Debasish Roy said. Under the given circumstances, for the remaining months of the jute year 2021-22 (from November 2021 to June next year), the industry can commit to only 2.25 lakh bales every month, he said in the letter. The expected backlog as of November 1 will be two lakh bales, the IJMA informed the ministry. The jute commissioner had recently fixed a reasonable price of raw jute at Rs 6,500 per quintal to prevent hoarding as the commodity was being sold at Rs 7,200 or more in the market. Notably, high raw jute prices may adversely impact the government"s procurement cost for foodgrain packaging bags. PTI BSM BDC BDC