The decline of jute and the de-globalisation of Dundee

In 1913 Dundee was one of the most globalised cities in the world. This was largely the result of its status as 'juteopolis', a city where there was overwhelming reliance on one industry, jute, which bought all its raw materials from Bengal and sold the bulk of its exports in foreign markets. But this status was undermined by the rise of competition in jute, most notably from Calcutta, competition which proved disastrous for the Dundee industry in the 1930s. While the industry staged a recovery behind protective barriers in the 1940s and 1950s, it never regained its previous scale, and from the 1970s onwards was in terminal decline finally disappearing in 1999. Largely as a result of that decline, by the beginning of the 21st century Dundee had become largely de-globalised, its employment largely reliant on public and private sector services.