Sweater exports on the rise

Sweater shipment from Bangladesh is on the rise thanks to competitive pricing and longer winters in the Western world as a result of climate change, exporters said.

Bangladesh exported sweaters worth $3.37 billion in fiscal 2016-17, up 5.64 percent year-on-year, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau.

Even three years ago, the window for sweater sales was at most four months, from November to February. Now, the window opens in October and continues until March.

The shift of work orders from China to Bangladesh is also another factor for the higher shipment, said Saif Ahmed, deputy general manager of Mohammadi Group, which exports nearly three million pieces of sweater in a year.

Seeing that the winter season has expanded in the Western world, almost all sweater manufacturers in Bangladesh have expanded their capacity, he said.

Besides, the knitwear is no longer used in the winter only; it is worn all yr round, stated Ahmed, who supervises the sweater part in Mohammadi Group.

Given the higher demand, most of the factories have additionally began automating their manufacturing line to raise output and cope with strict lead time.

However, the expenses of knitwear have no longer expanded however the prices of manufacturing have due to inefficient port operation and bad street prerequisites between Dhaka and Chittagong, Ahmed said.

In the long-term, Bangladesh’s sweater enterprise will increase, said a German client who purchases $1.3 billion well worth of garment gadgets from Bangladesh, 30 percentage of which is knitwear.

In current times, Vietnam and Cambodia have come to be predominant competitors of Bangladesh due to their shorter lead time, he said.

The lead time from Bangladesh is round 40 days, whereas it is 20 days from the other two Asian nations.

The motive for Bangladesh’s longer lead time is that all knitwear is made from yarn imported from China, he said.

“Many Chinese corporations have massive investment in Vietnam and Cambodia. As a result, they can get yarns easily.” Regarding the prices, the German consumer said: “Even two years in the past we paid $11 for a sweater, however now it is $9.”