Exports of sweaters from Bangladesh have been increasing rapidly with competitive pricing and long winters in the Western countries playing the pivotal role, Bangladesh apparel industry insiders reportedly said.

According to the Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data, the country exported sweaters worth US $ 3.37 billion in the fiscal year 2016-17, up by 5.64 per cent year-on-year.

The EPB report further mentioned that the window for sweater sales usually remains open from November to February but now it opens in October and continues till late March, which eventually supported sweater exports from Bangladesh.

The business experts and exporters figured out that the consistent shifting of work orders from China to Bangladesh is also another factor for the higher shipment of sweater items.

Many Chinese apparel makers have recently either switched over to other businesses or suspended the production on a decline in buying orders and higher cost of doing business due to a hike in workers’ wages.

Meanwhile, a number of Bangladeshi sweater factories have enhanced their capacity or opened up new manufacturing units to cope with the growing demand for sweaters from global apparel buyers in recent times. SQ, Dragon, Tupa, Starlight and Diganta Sweaters are some of the major players in sweater manufacturing in Bangladesh, all of which expanded their capacity at least once in recent times.

Notably, some of the leading global brands including Walmart, Marks and Spencer (M&S), GAP, Tesco, H&M, JCPenney and Zara are the major buyers of Bangladeshi sweater products.