The FIFA World Cup has come as "a big boon" for Bangladesh's ready-made dress makers who landed about $1B in export orders "to sew clothing for fans," according to XINHUA. Bangladesh garment makers said that they "have made millions of pieces of soccer jerseys, T-shirts, flags and hats for fans of all the World Cup's 32 teams and already sent their products to all across the world." Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers & Exporters Association acting CEO Mohammad Hatem said, "It's not possible for us to tell an exact figure of the total value of the World Cup related merchandise exports. But we can estimate that it will be in no way less than $1 billion." Leaders of the two apex bodies of Bangladeshi ready-made garment makers -- BKMEA and Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers & Exporters' Association (BGMEA) -- said that a big part of the current growth in Bangladesh's overall export "came from the World Cup merchandise." Hatem said that they "have so far supplied some 500 million pieces of jerseys to buyers across the world." Hatem: "My factory alone supplied 250,000 soccer jerseys for eight teams like Brazil, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany and Portugal" (XINHUA, 6/3). The Indian BUSINESS STANDARD's Vinay Umarji reported India "has been playing its role." Indian manufacturers "have been exporting sports products to Brazil" for the World Cup. Jalandhar-based Rattan Brothers has supplied around 80,000 balls through a U.K.-based Hy-Pro that "has the official FIFA license for supplying the product for the World Cup this year." Rattan Brothers Exports Dir Tilak Khinder said, "This being the soccer World Cup year, we have seen a 20 percent jump in orders for soccer balls from other regions such as Australia, New Zealand, England, Ireland and France, among others." Rattan Brothers "is exporting another 200,000 soccer balls to these regions." Meanwhile, overall football sports goods exports could see a 20-30% rise in the fiscal '14-15 year (BUSINESS STANDARD, 6/4).
