Shitalpati mat weaving

About the business

Splitting the stalk of the murta or paitra plant into fine strips, soaking, drying and dyeing them, then weaving a mat by hand. It is slow work. The plant takes about a year to mature and a pon of eighty long stalks costs Tk 700-800 in the market. One stalk normally yields ten to twelve strips, though a real master can pull eighteen to twenty. The strips are soaked seven or eight days in rice starch and water, washed, sun-dried and partly dyed before the weaving even begins. At Rajapur in Jhalokathi a plain mat takes four or five days and sells for Tk 1,000 to at most Tk 3,500, which is Tk 200 to Tk 875 a day before the raw material is paid for. Finely patterned mats take far longer and fetch more. The question is whether recognition raises the price, and the answer is no. Shitalpati weaving entered UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage list in 2017 and BSCIC received the GI registration certificate for Bangladesh's Shitalpati in 2023. Even so, in 2026 the Jhalokathi weaver Krishna Chandra Das says there is no government support at all and that weavers, short of money, take dadon advances from the mahajan and are forced to let mats go cheap. At Dhulijura in Rajnagar, Moulvibazar, more than a hundred families once wove; four or five are left and the rest have gone to day labour, driven out by plastic mats and electric fans. So do not price off the GI or the UNESCO listing. The market sets the price, and the market is shrinking.

Unit economics

What you need to start

• Knives and a dao for splitting, a pond or tank for soaking the strips, a pot and stove for boil-dyeing, and open ground for drying. No workshop is needed; the work is done in the yard.Equipment
• Murta or paitra stalks. A pon of eighty long stalks costs Tk 700-800 in the market. The plant takes about a year to mature, and the paitra groves are shrinking in places including Bakerganj in Barishal.Starting stock
• Registration as an authorised user of a Geographical Indication, from the Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (DPDT) under the Ministry of Industries, under the Geographical Indications (Registration and Protection) Act 2013. BSCIC holds the GI registration certificate for Bangladesh's Shitalpati (2023). The user registration fee and conditions have to be obtained from DPDT, and the certificate brings no extra price in the market.Licence
• Trade licence from the union parishad, municipality or city corporation, needed for regular wholesale supply or a shop: form Tk 10, licence book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000 by trade type.Licence
• Pulling the strips and weaving, which is the real capital. A stalk normally gives ten to twelve strips and a master pulls eighteen to twenty. Patterning is a separate skill; few weavers can raise designs like the chessboard or the chamar kanta.Skill
• Arotdars and mahajans, who place the orders at the end of Chaitra. Beyond them, the Baishakh fair wholesalers, Dhaka shops and designers, and the Middle East market reached through big traders.Supplier
• The house yard and a dry room, with water close by. Harendra Kumar Das soaks his murta and strips in the eighty-year-old pond his grandfather dug.Workspace

How the work is done

1. 1Sort out the raw material first. Murta or paitra takes about a year to mature; without your own grove you buy in the market, where a pon of eighty long stalks costs Tk 700-800.
2. 2Learn to split the stalk into strips. A stalk normally gives ten to twelve; the better the hand the more and the finer the strips, and the lower the raw material cost.
3. 3Soak the strips seven or eight days in rice starch and water, then wash in clean water and sun-dry. Hurrying this step snaps the strips.
4. 4Boil-dye some of the strips for the pattern. The design comes from mixing dyed and undyed strips.
5. 5Fix the size and start weaving. A plain mat comes off in four or five days; a finely patterned one takes fifteen to twenty. The best selling size is 7ft by 5ft.
6. 6Take the arotdar's order at the end of Chaitra. That is when you learn how many mats will move in Baishakh, and you buy raw material accordingly.
7. 7Have the stock ready ahead of the Baishakh fairs. The year's biggest selling happens then: for the Jabbarer Boli Khela fair in Chattogram on 12 Baishakh, one Jhalokathi wholesaler alone was preparing to take about Tk 2 crore of mats.
8. 8Think before taking dadon. Weavers short of money take the mahajan's advance and are then forced to sell him the mats cheap. Once you are inside the dadon you no longer set your own price.
9. 9Do not stay only with bed mats. Murta is also made into table mats, wall mats, prayer mats, bags, file folders, pen stands and picture and mirror frames, and it is these that Dhaka designers and shops order.
10. 10Take a trade licence from the union parishad or municipality and ask the district BSCIC office about small and cottage industry registration and training; BSCIC is the body that obtained the GI registration for this product.
11. 11Do not price off the GI or the UNESCO listing. Even after the 2017 UNESCO recognition and the 2023 GI certificate, weavers in 2026 say there is no government support and the price has not moved. Find the buyer first, then make the mat.

Sources

• সিটি কর্পোরেশন থেকে ট্রেড লাইসেন্স প্রাপ্তির ধাপ সমূহ

  Collected: 16 Sept 2026

  Supports: Starting capital · বাংলাদেশ

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