“Falling from the sky to the ground” took Wang Gang only half a month.
Disposable protective masks produced by Wang Gang’s company . Photo provided by the interviewee
“The savings that we worked so hard to save suddenly returned to before liberation.” On June 2, a mask production factory was opened in Jining. Wang Gang (pseudonym) described his experience in entering the mask market to The Paper.
In mid-April, I invested in the production of masks. Two orders were placed within 10 days, and the production was completed in 3 days, with a profit of 300,000 to 400,000 yuan. Wang Gang recalled that at that time, seeing the mask machine was like seeing a golden mountain.
After that, the situation took a turn for the worse. At the end of April, as the market became saturated, supply exceeded demand, and there were no more big orders; mask profits also plummeted, and the more than 3 million invested by Wang Gang and his partners was about to be wasted.
On Labor Day, he felt that doing nothing was meaningless, so Wang Gang played games every day to anesthetize himself.
There is a saying in the industry: “Those who come first live in luxury houses, and those who come later go to the rooftops.” The ones who make a sure profit without losing money are the masks, raw materials and mask machines. The “bad guys”.
Most people in the industry avoid talking about rumors such as “mask machines are like money printing machines” and “mask-rich cities have created many multi-millionaires”. “Chinese people pay attention to not showing off their wealth. In addition, they are also worried about being scolded and making the country’s wealth difficult.”
One of them emphasized: “You only see those who smile, not those who are smiling.” See those crying.”
Earning 150,000 a day, “I feel like I am just waiting to count the money”
In recent days, Wang Gang is considering changing careers.
In 2012, Wang Gang, who started out as a salesman, as a minority shareholder, opened a non-woven bag factory with his partners in Jining, Shandong. In 2016, it started to focus on foreign trade orders, with annual sales of more than 6 million, and the profits are quite considerable.
Because of lack of money, 34-year-old Wang Gang has never bought a house. Before the epidemic, he relied on the 500,000 to 600,000 yuan he had saved from doing foreign trade in the past few years. He took a fancy to a second-hand house in Jinan, paid a deposit, and planned to go through the formalities after the year.
All of this was disrupted by the epidemic.
In late March 2020, Wang Gang’s factory resumed work. At that time, the epidemic had broken out abroad and there were no foreign trade orders at all. Domestic exhibitions and events that require non-woven bags have also been suspended. “The pressure is great. If there are no orders, workers will be lost, and re-recruitment and training are all costly.” Wang Gang recalled.
Workers are producing. Photo provided by the interviewee
The main reason that prompted Wang Gang and his partners to decide to enter the mask market was that many of their peers had switched to producing masks. “I heard they were making money. millions”. They believe that the company has always been engaged in foreign trade, which is an advantage.
On April 7, the business license of Qufu Baoli Medical Technology Co., Ltd. was obtained. On April 10, four sets of second-hand disposable mask machines purchased through the WeChat group arrived and were debugged and production began. Because he has been doing foreign trade, Wang Gang knows the importance of quality. On April 15, the company obtained SGS China and EU CE certification.
Just after receiving the certification, the company received an order for 1.1 million disposable protective masks from Italy. At that time, 95% filtered melt-blown cloth cost more than RMB 500,000 per ton. According to calculations, each mask cost RMB 9 cents, which could be sold for RMB 34 or RMB. Because it was an order from a foreign trade company, the other party took away more than half of the profit, and still earned two to three cents per mask.
“The other party wanted it very urgently, so we worked hard to produce it and completed the order in two days and two nights.” Wang Gang recalled that in the end, the mask passed customs smoothly. Quality inspection also passed. Wang Gang felt crazy after making two to three hundred thousand in two days.
“Looking at the mask machine was like seeing a ‘Golden Mountain’.” Wang Gang said that at that time, it felt like he was waiting to count the money.
Because it is a second-hand mask machine and not made by a major manufacturer, there are always problems, such as uneven tableting and the need for debugging, which affects the production schedule. Wang Gang and his partners sold these four sets of mask machines without hesitation. I originally bought each set for 200,000 yuan, but sold it for 180,000 yuan. Then, purchase a new set of disposable mask machines from major manufacturers.
On April 20, the N95 mask machine purchased for 2 million yuan also arrived at the factory. This is 15 days after they paid the full amount.
Following this, the company received an order of 300,000 pieces. The other party only wanted the “white pieces” of N95 masks (Note: Mask slicing machines are relatively expensive. , maybe the other company is unwilling to invest), take it for secondary processing, and then export it to Singapore.
“We only made 5 cents each, and we made 150,000 in one day and one night.” Wang Gang said, “Think about what it feels like.”
The profits are astonishing, and the investment is not low: plus the 400,000 yuan spent on transforming the sterile workshop, the investment has reached more than 3 million yuan.
Wang Gang’s enterprise��
Now, the melt-blown cloth on the market, which originally could not meet the mask production standard of 80% or less (filtration efficiency), has grown from 4 to 50 million yuan per piece. tons, plummeting to 10,000 yuan per ton. The price of 95% melt-blown cloth has also dropped from a peak of 600,000 to 250,000 to 250,000, and the price of 99% melt-blown cloth has dropped from more than 700,000 to 300,000.
Wang Gang told The Paper that meltblown cloth had been hard to buy before and he was worried about rising prices. When producing the first batch of orders for Italy, the company scraped together a few pieces. More than two tons, half of which is useless. According to the current price of masks, reproducing and selling them can only maintain capital. What’s even more tragic is that there are no orders.
“We are extremely worried and are considering opening an online store to expand sales of masks and non-woven bags.” Wang Gang said that now, the domestic mask market is saturated. However, countries with underdeveloped light industries still have a relatively large demand for masks. As long as the quality meets standards, they can still be exported. The ex-factory price of masks is still higher than before the epidemic. Compared with the profit of a few cents per mask before, the current profit is still considerable.
“Outside, we report good news but not bad news. When my parents asked, they all said it was okay.” Wang Gang could only grit his teeth and hold on, “The only hope left is In exports, no one knows what the epidemic situation will be like in the future, so let’s wait and see.”
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