Bangladesh’s earnings from exports of sweaters have grown 15.82 per cent over the last year. Sweater manufacturers have upgraded machinery and technology to go from manual to automated. Technological upgradation has contributed a lot to increase exports earnings. Installation of new technology has improved the quality of products as well as capacity. As a result, global buyers place more work orders, which has pushed export earnings up. Bangladesh has gained from the ongoing trade conflict between the United States of America and China. While wages in China went up, higher US tariffs, promoted buyers to shift their business to other countries, especially Bangladesh. The country offers quality products at a lucrative price, giving it an opportunity to grab a bigger share of the sweater market.

However, with rising export earnings, there has been no jump in profit margins because of the sharp rise in production costs. Buyers have become stingy in paying. The country is moving toward value addition and better productivity in order to remain competitive in global markets and sees a huge scope for expanding its export earnings as it has the production capacity to meet any rise in demand.