As the domestic epidemic situation stabilizes, masks and their production raw materials have gone from being “hard to find” in the early days to “breaking the bottom price” now. Related upstream and downstream companies have experienced a roller coaster in just a few months.
In the early stages of the epidemic, raw materials such as melt-blown cloth for the production of masks were difficult to find. Before the epidemic, the price of meltblown cloth with a filtration efficiency of 90% and above was 20,000 yuan per ton, and the price rose to 700,000 to 800,000 yuan at the highest. Now it has dropped to more than 200,000 yuan per ton. Disposable medical masks averaged 34 yuan per piece in April, but now a pack of 20 only costs 36 yuan. Yang Xinyu, secretary of the board of directors of China Southern Glass Group Co., Ltd., said that the price drop may be more likely to be caused by KN95 and N95 masks, because their usage is relatively small, especially as the weather gradually gets hotter, the wearing comfort is not so strong.
Overcapacity
Upstream production companies have stopped production one after another
In the early days of the COVID-19 epidemic, for Changyuan City in Henan Province, known as the “Capital of Medical Consumables in China”, expanding production capacity was an urgent task with “human lives at stake”.
As of June 5, Changyuan City’s daily production capacity of medical protective clothing, medical surgical masks, and medical protective masks reached 74,000 sets, 7.5 million pieces, and 1.2 million pieces respectively; It is 105 times, 5.1 times, and 214 times that of the early stage of the epidemic.
However, as the domestic epidemic situation changes, the mask market has also changed. From June 2nd to 5th, reporters visited Changyuan City and learned that due to overcapacity in the domestic mask market, starting from mid-to-late April, the mask production lines of many medical device companies in the city have successively stopped production, and mask workers have switched back to their original products. Wire.
On June 4, Tian Shuzeng, the person in charge of Henan Jianqi Medical Equipment Co., Ltd., which is one of the largest in the local area, told reporters that the factory’s mask production line has been stopped for more than 10 days. Still digesting inventory, “N95 masks are sold in the tens of thousands a day, and disposable medical surgical masks are sold in the hundreds of thousands a day.”
Tian Shuzeng said that the protective clothing production line was stopped a few days earlier than the mask production line. Now it is also digesting inventory and “sales are not moving much.”
Henan Piaoan Group Co., Ltd. was formerly known as Changyuan County Medical and Sanitary Materials Factory and has a history of 31 years. According to Han Cuntai, its deputy general manager, the factory’s protective clothing production line stopped on May 10. It still has more than 1 million sets in stock and is very worried about sales. The mask production line also stopped four or five days ago, and there is still some inventory that is being digested.
Cui Qinfeng, the person in charge of Xinxiang Huaxi Health Materials Co., Ltd., said that of the 60 to 70 companies in Changyuan City, there are still more than a dozen with mask production lines open.
Many industry insiders analyzed that domestic mask companies experienced a blowout during the epidemic and will inevitably face a reshuffle after the epidemic. Those who change their profession or transform to produce masks are easily eliminated because they do not have a mature sales system. For companies that survive, competition will become more intense. Brand, quality, innovation, sales, and industrial chain are all key factors.
Consumption wisely
Pharmacy masks go from long queues to casual purchases
In a pharmacy in Chaoyang District, Beijing, the clerk told reporters that there are nearly ten types of masks currently on sale, ranging from disposable medical masks to medical surgical masks to those that have been seen before. KN95 masks that you can’t see anywhere, Korean KF94 three-dimensional masks that girls like to use, and colorful masks for children are all available.
“The price dropped too fast, one batch for one price.” The clerk introduced the best-selling disposable medical mask to reporters. “In April, the average price was still 34%. It’s only 36 yuan per pack. Now a pack of 20 pcs only costs 36 yuan.”
“We belong to a chain drugstore, and we get all the goods from the factory, and the prices are basically the same. Yes, we will sell whatever the factory sets the price. When the price of raw materials drops, it becomes cheaper for the factory, and our retail price becomes cheaper,” the clerk explained.
Even if the price has dropped, unlike the rush-buying mentality of “get as much as you see” at the beginning of the year, the store clerk said that recently, people only buy one or two packs at most and buy as they go. “Some people who come to buy masks have mentioned that there may be a second wave of the epidemic this autumn and winter, but if they are stocking up on masks, they will definitely be willing to buy cheaper ones online.”
Shop clerk It was also mentioned that most of the people who came to buy masks recently were people who forgot to bring masks when they went out and came to buy them for emergencies. For this reason, they also deliberately sell the masks in pieces for two yuan each, and the sales are quite good.
Force or export?
The mask industry is ushering in a major reshuffle
The domestic epidemic situation is improving and the mask market is saturated; the foreign epidemic continues to spread, and many mask manufacturers Think of exit as a last resort. According to CCTV Finance, many companies have transformed themselves and are working overtime to process new orders from abroad. On the other hand, due to the increased export standards, some companies have encountered difficulties in selling their masks.
With the outbreak of foreign epidemics, the demand for foreign masks has increased significantly. Liu Zhixiong, chairman of Shenzhen Sannuo Group, said that currently, the company has exported more than 100 million masks to more than 20 countries including India and Russia. Xue Junfeng, general manager of its smart health division, said that in order to meet order demand, the company currently implements three shifts of production, with the daily output of disposable masks reaching 10 million pieces. In the past, the daily output of traditional mask machines was about 50,000 to 80,000 pieces, and the daily output of high-speed mask machines could reach 1 million pieces. The company specially introduced high-speed mask machines.
Different from the prosperous production scene of Xue Junfeng’s company, AnThe production workshop of a mask company in Huizhou looked very deserted. Yao Wei, the company’s deputy general manager, said that from mid-to-late March to early May, product supply exceeded demand. But after mid-May, foreign customers’ qualification requirements continued to increase, and they have been stuck on qualifications.
“Foreign customers have requested masks produced by companies on the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s whitelist. We actively applied for EU CE certification and the domestic Ministry of Commerce’s whitelist as early as a month ago.” He He said that in order to reduce risks, the company can only temporarily suspend operations during this period. Nearly half of the 20 KN95 production lines invested by the company in the early stage are suspended.
There are many mask companies in similar situations. According to Announcement No. 53 issued by the General Administration of Customs on April 10, many civilian mask manufacturers without medical device product certificates are unable to pass customs inspection for export. This has led to a situation of ice and fire in the domestic mask industry – “big factories” that meet the standards are desperately increasing their production capacity, while “small factories” can only temporarily suspend operations and apply for export qualifications.
At the same time, the growth rate of registrations of mask-related companies has slowed down. Tianyancha data shows that in May, the number of registrations of mask-related companies declined, with 10,283 new companies added each month, a decrease of 70.84% compared with April; in May, the number of registrations of melt-blown cloth-related companies was 1,728, compared with April A month-on-month decrease of 57.60%.
Industry insiders said that for those mask factories that were hastily invested in construction after the outbreak and failed to meet production standards, they will Facing massive closures. For those companies whose production quality is up to standard but whose queues for qualification applications are too long, causing temporary operating difficulties, there is still hope of survival.
Liu Zhixiong said that because the whitelist is constantly updated, it does not mean that the quality of companies that are not on the whitelist is not good. The future of small and medium-sized mask factories may be to be acquired and merged with large factories, and the industry will face a new round of reshuffle.
“For masks, the core competitiveness now is quality and price.” Relevant experts said that whether they want to obtain qualifications for export or want to compete domestically, Mask companies that are fighting for their own success put their top priority in producing excellent products. </p
