diff --git a/onadata/libs/utils/export_builder.py b/onadata/libs/utils/export_builder.py
index 33e95e94b3..649e57564b 100644
--- a/onadata/libs/utils/export_builder.py
+++ b/onadata/libs/utils/export_builder.py
@@ -847,7 +847,8 @@ def write_row(row, csv_writer, fields):
         for section in self.sections:
             sav_options = self._get_sav_options(section['elements'])
             sav_file = NamedTemporaryFile(suffix=".sav")
-            sav_writer = SavWriter(sav_file.name, **sav_options)
+            sav_writer = SavWriter(sav_file.name, ioLocale="en_US.UTF-8",
+                                   **sav_options)
             sav_defs[section['name']] = {
                 'sav_file': sav_file, 'sav_writer': sav_writer}