Many mask manufacturers in Guangdong return to work ahead of schedule

Recently, many places have issued "control orders" for wearing masks in public places, and put forward corresponding punishment measures.

On January 26, the health and Health Commission of Guangdong Province issued a circular to control the wearing of masks in public places in Guangdong Province. Those who enter public places without wearing masks shall be dissuaded. Those who do not listen to the dissuasion shall be dealt with by relevant competent departments according to their respective responsibilities.

After the promulgation of the "control order", people have reported that it is difficult to obtain masks.

"The problem now is not that we don't wear them, the problem is that we can't buy them." Mr. Lin (not his real name) reported to the reporter of China business daily.

For the prevention and control of new viral pneumonia, many provinces have announced the first-class response to public health events, and the supply of various medical protection materials continues to be tight.

A novel coronavirus infection has been deployed in the production and supply of important materials in Guangdong, and the local industry and information departments have been required to follow up the work of key materials production enterprises to ensure the production and supply of heavy materials, according to a recent announcement by the Ministry of industry and information technology.

As of January 24, Guangdong Province has added 6 new mask enterprises to resume production, a total of 10 mask enterprises have resumed production, with a production capacity of 830000 pieces / day and 530000 pieces of masks inventory.

According to the reporter's analysis, many mask manufacturers in Guangdong have returned to work ahead of schedule, but some manufacturers are still facing problems such as lack of raw materials and insufficient workers.

Mr. Mei, the person in charge of Guangdong Hongrui Medical Equipment Co., Ltd., told reporters: "the original plan was to start work after the Lantern Festival. Considering the serious epidemic situation, it is estimated that the work can be resumed in advance to the eighth day of the beginning of the year. The specific time has not been determined. Now we are fully cooperating with the government to make preparations for the resumption of work."

It is understood that Guangdong Hongrui Medical Equipment Co., Ltd. mainly produces medical surgical masks with a monthly production capacity of 200000. Referring to the current problems, Mr. Mei said: "the factory staff have been mobilized many times to return to work, but many of them are still in other provinces. In addition, the supply of raw materials is also a problem. Now the government is helping to coordinate."

Yang kangbin, general manager of Guangzhou anshenbao Medical Equipment Co., Ltd., also told our reporter: "now the factory has returned to work ahead of schedule, but due to the lack of raw materials, it is impossible to guarantee the production capacity of 40000 masks per day."

Yang kangbin pointed out: "the most lack of medical protective mask (N95 mask) filter material, lack of melt blown non-woven fabric."

According to the different protection requirements, the classification of masks is also different. The ordinary flat face mask is generally composed of three layers, the upper and lower sides are PP non-woven fabric, and the middle layer is melt blown fabric for protection; while N95 cup-shaped mask is composed of needle punched cotton, melt blown fabric and non-woven fabric, and its protective effect can reach at least 95%.

Melt blown filter cloth mainly plays the role of isolation and filtration in the mask. Due to the special manufacturing process of melt blown filter cloth, it can effectively prevent dust, bacteria, viruses and other invasion of human body, reduce various infections and effectively protect human health.

In 2009, the overseas swine flu once caused a shortage of mask supply. At that time, due to the shortage of melt blown materials, many mask manufacturers had to purchase melt blown materials from overseas channels. Yang kangbin pointed out: "now upstream suppliers are not working, raw materials are in short supply, and prices are also rising. Now the government is coordinating, so it may be too late to import filter materials from abroad."

Due to the shortage of supply and demand, the prices of masks on-line and off-line have increased. Therefore, Ali, Jingdong, pinduoduo and 3M, the mask manufacturer, have promised not to raise the price of masks during this period.

Mr. Mei and Yang kangbin told reporters that the masks produced will give priority to relevant government departments to ensure the normal operation of the medical system. "Now that companies are increasing wages, overtime and raw material prices, the cost of producing masks is two or three times higher than before," Yang said

According to the information released recently by the Department of industry and information of Guangdong Province, in view of the shortage of workers and raw materials faced by enterprises, the local industry and information department implements one enterprise and one policy to coordinate various departments to help enterprises resume production as soon as possible.

(source: China business daily editor: Zhao Yi, proofread by Yan Jingning)