Soccer World Cup 2014 in Brazil has come as a big boon for Bangladesh's ready-made dress makers as they bagged about $1 billion in export orders to sew clothing for fans of the participating teams, industry insiders say.

Bangladesh garment makers say 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.

"We've received orders to make the World Cup related merchandise worth of nearly $1 billion," Mohammad Hatem, acting chief of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), told Xinhua.

"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," he said.

"World Cup has surely come as a big boon for us," he added.

Leaders of the two apex bodies of Bangladeshi ready-made garment makers -- BKMEA and Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters' Association (BGMEA) -- said a big part of the current growth in Bangladesh's overall export came from the World Cup merchandise.

Bangladesh's export income in the first 10 months of the current 2013-14 fiscal year (July 2013-June 2014) surged nearly 13 percent to $22.24 billion with ready-made garments as the key performer.

In the first nine months of the current fiscal year, knitwear garment export grew 16.40 percent to 8.83 billion US dollars while woven garments increased 13.99 percent to $9.22 billion, comparing with the same period of last fiscal.

Industry insiders say the overall ready-made garment export growth has been largely driven by demands for World Cup related merchandise despite the country facing problems in key global markets due to last April's worst ever industrial garment tragedy in which a total of 1,131 people, mostly garment workers, were confirmed dead.

The BKMEA acting chief said they have so far supplied some 500 million pieces of jerseys to buyers across the world.

"My factory alone supplied 250,000 soccer jerseys for eight teams like Brazil, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany and Portugal. "

He said almost all the factories got some orders to make the World Cup related merchandise.

BGMEA First Vice Nasiruddin Ahmed Chowdhury said this time one thing very special for Bangladesh manufacturers is that they have not only made jerseys for soccer fans but also for players of some participating teams including Brazil.

Factory owners said they also made a lot of clothing for local buyers whose figures are not usually monitored by the two apex bodies of the garment manufacturers.

The FIFA World Cup is highly popular in Bangladesh. Local fans are seen buying jerseys and hosting flags of their favorite teams in homes, streets and even in educational institutions.

The whole country has already got a festive and joyous look with nearing of the World Cup.

The 2014 FIFA World Cup Tournament will start in Sao Paulo, Brazil on June 12, where host Brazil will raise the curtain on the show-piece event in the opening bout against Croatia.

Thanks to its cheap labor, Bangladesh is now the world's second largest garment exporter after China, producing global brands for customers around the world. Yet the country's garment industry has been severely criticized for safety concerns and labor unrest over rock-bottom wages in recent years.

The Rana Plaza building collapse revived questions about the commitments of factory owners and their global buyers to provide safe working conditions in the export sector, which comprises about 5,000 factories employing more than 4 million workers, 80 percent of whom are women.