Unit Price From 20 Thousand To 300 Thousand! Behind The Mask "Heart" Melted Cloth Price Rises

From the usual 20 thousand yuan / ton to about 300000 yuan / ton, the industry is expected to rise in the future. The melted spray nonwovens, known as the "heart" of masks, have risen by more than 15 times in the past month or so, forming a very strong seller's market.

During the epidemic period, masks are important protective equipment, and become the necessary products for front-line health care, enterprise rehabilitation and people's travel. The new production capacity of the national mask has increased rapidly, and the supply of core raw materials has been in short supply.

In the production workshop of Shandong Junfu nonwovens Co., the workers are working on masks with non-woven fabrics. (photo of joint venture, provided by visiting enterprises)

What is the scarcity of the core material of masks? What is the root cause of the soaring price of the melted cloth? The mask production line has been put into operation in large numbers. Why do manufacturers not expand the production capacity of the melt blown fabric? When can it relieve the shortage of the raw material supply of the respirator? With the related questions, the reporter traced the industrial chain of the mask and went on to investigate the key production links of the mask factory, cloth factory and material factory.

Tight cloth

The supply of melt blown fabric is scarce and prices are rising rapidly, forming a very strong seller's market.

"Except for melt blown cloth, everything else is easy to say." In a masked source sharing and exchange group, a producer said so.

The group collects more than 100 manufacturers of the mask industry upstream and downstream, and they will exchange information related to masks in the group. Although the prices of materials such as ear bands and nose bars are rising, the supply of goods is not scarce. Only melt spray cloth forms a very strong seller's market.

Recently, the price of the meltblown fabric is at least 200 thousand yuan per ton. And two weeks ago, we purchased 80 thousand yuan / ton, the highest is 120 thousand yuan / ton. A Shandong clothing company, such as the production of masks and other anti epidemic materials, recently asked for no material. Ding Yan, the company's head, said that the rapid rise in the price of melted cloth was alarming.

Melt blown fabric is a key material for virus filtration by respirators. It is called the "heart" of medical surgical masks and N95 masks. Medical surgical masks usually use multi-storey structures, or SMS structures: the inner and outer sides are single layer spunbonded layer (S), and the middle is a single layer or multi-layer melt blown layer (M). Melt blown fabric is the best material for melt blown layer.

Without melt spray cloth, we can only "let the machine wait for cloth". Qingdao Hai Nuo Bioengineering Co., Ltd. has two medical surgical mask production lines and a civilian mask production line. They have reported to the local government that because of the shortage of raw materials and the failure to get the goods, some production lines had to stop production.

"The medical standard of meltblown fabric is not available now," said the head of Shengda medical hygienic materials Co. Ltd., which can only be used in the early March when the stockpile of meltblown fabric is available. The company has a mask production line. There will be two new lines to the factory in early March, and the daily demand for melt spray cloth will increase from about 80 to 90 kg to 200 kg. It is difficult to put into production. At present, the company has reported the demand information to the government departments, hoping to solve the gap of medical melted cloth in the near future.

Flocking demand

On the demand side of the melt spraying cloth, the new production capacity of the mask is larger, and some manufacturers are seeking materials and raising the cloth price.

According to the national development and Reform Commission, the current utilization rate of masks in China has reached 110%. As of February 29th, the national daily mask production reached 110 million, with a daily output of 116 million. At present, 30 provinces and cities except Tibet have been newly masked production lines, and new masks line will be put into production. The head of China Textile Business Association said that the market demand for melt blown fabrics will also increase in the future.

In order to alleviate the shortage of masks, it is an important way for non mask manufacturers to turn into mask manufacturers. At present, many governments have opened up a green channel to speed up the examination and approval, and encourage relevant enterprises in the industry chain to switch production. With the change of information about industrial and commercial registration as the standard, since January 1st to February 7th alone, more than 3000 enterprises in the country have added "mask, protective clothing, disinfectant, thermometer, medical device" and other businesses.

In the State Council client small program in February 21st, "the key medical prevention and control material production process docking area", the reporter saw that most enterprises are looking for melt spray cloth supply.

Reporters interviewed found that the recent reflection of the surge in cloth prices mainly in the small and medium-sized masks factory and newly transferred to the new mask factory. The head of the Shandong provincial industrial and commercial office said that the price of masks is high, and the production of masks is profitable. In addition, the local government takes the initiative to request that many enterprises change their mouthpieces, and the demand for raw materials is increasing.

In order to ensure the supply of first-line preventive materials for medical care, the state and local industry and commerce departments have formulated a batch of key protection enterprises for materials. The production of these mask factories and cloth factories is monitored and sold by the government by the government, and the price increases are relatively controllable. But the industry believes that the recent emergence of masks factory, there is no stable supplier, can only look for raw materials everywhere, not hesitate to buy high purchase materials.

Restless supply

At the supply side of the melt spraying cloth, there are small factories sitting on the ground to start the price: at the end of the melt spraying cloth, there are middlemen to earn the difference.

Walk into the factory area of Shandong Junfu nonwovens Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Shandong Junfu) in Dongying City, Shandong province. The reporters saw a busy scene. It is reported that after receiving the notice from the Ministry of industry in January 27th, they have been working overtime, and all 10 production lines are fully loaded at 24 hours. Shandong Junfu produces about 13 tons of melt blown fabric daily, accounting for 1/10 of the whole country. According to the regulation of the state and relevant departments, it mainly supplies downstream enterprises in Hubei and Shandong.

There are not many large manufacturers that can produce melt blown fabrics in China. The industry has long been short of concern, showing a trend of low temperature and no fire. The industry as a whole shows a small and dispersed situation. At present, the domestic production capacity of melted spray cloth is mainly distributed in a few provinces and cities such as Shandong, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu.

At the supply side of melt blown cloth, large scale cloth factories are not subject to government regulation, but there are also small factories starting prices.

The average price of meltblown fabric is about 20 thousand yuan / ton. Now our price is 100 thousand yuan / ton. Because of our price reduction, the local small cloth factory is afraid to raise the price. But in some other provinces and regions that lack leading enterprises, the price of the small cloth factories is up to 200 thousand yuan / ton. A lot of small mask factories want to use our materials to co-operate with the government. I call two hundred or three hundred calls a day. Huang Wensheng, general manager of Shandong Junfu, said.

Hubei Xiantao a mask factory responsible person said that the current price of local melted spray cloth is about 200 thousand yuan / ton, and the price before the outbreak is 22 thousand yuan / ton; Jiangsu Nantong melt blown cloth manufacturers said, in order to enable the mask production line to function properly, there is a mask factory to buy a high price to buy melt spray cloth.

A lot of small cloth factories that have not been included in the list of masks are seriously priced. Lin Youqiang, the head of a mask manufacturer in Shandong, said that peacekeeping enterprises that had stable customers had to maintain their customers' relations without arbitrarily increasing their prices. A group of enterprises without stable partners and poor management in the past had been willing to raise their prices by malicious means.

According to industry sources, some suppliers of melted spray cloth have been quite "strong" in the market, not only do they deliver less invoices or invoices, but also require downstream factories to use the "hard currency" masks to offset the price, and they also need additional cash.

At the end of the melt spray cloth, there are middlemen to earn the difference.

A middle and small business owner of production change mask told reporters that in some masks, raw materials and resources were connected to WeChat group, there was a phenomenon that middlemen arbitrarily opened up high prices. "They opened up a price of 3.5 million tons per ton, making use of our lack of supply and the psychology of urgent production. They often said," if you want to hurry up, you don't want to have someone to take delivery of goods. "

A person in charge of the Shandong Municipal Bureau of industry and Commerce Bureau said that many people hoarding goods and dumping goods, and greatly increased the price when they hand in. Many of the melt spraying fabrics stay in warehouses and circulation links, waiting for price increases, and supply and demand can not match well.

Handsome profit

Reporters interviewed learned that the masks are amazing profits, which is an important reason why masks factories are willing to buy high priced melt blown fabrics.

An insider gave reporters a cost account: 1 tons of melt blown cloth can make 1 million surgical masks. If the melt blown fabric is sold at 200 thousand / ton, the cloth price will only cost 0.2 yuan in the cost of a mask. Now the price of the masks transferred from Shandong is about 1.5 yuan per unit, and the subsidy is 0.2 yuan. Beijing has about 4 yuan each, and Shanghai and Hubei cost about 3 yuan each. Although the cost of logistics, artificial and melt blown polypropylene has doubled in recent years, it also accounts for a small proportion of the price of masks.

On the other hand, the demand for masks purchases has increased greatly. Some anxious and reworking enterprises do not care about the price of raw materials, but also increase the price of masks. "Recently, the tide of national enterprise reemployment has been ushered in. The state requires enterprises to distribute masks and other protective articles for workers. If every worker in a company uses a mask every day, this is an astronomical figure." Lin Youqiang said.

According to the fourth national economic census data, the total number of employed persons in domestic legal entities and self-employed households is as high as 533 million. According to a mask per person per day, there are at least 533 million masks per day. Compared to the current daily capacity, masks gap is huge, profit margins can be imagined.

Awkward "slender waist"

The production capacity of the mask industry chain is "gourd shaped", which is one of the root causes of the shortage of melt blown fabric.

Yu Xiaoning, chairman of Shandong Daun group, said that the downstream mask factory grew rapidly, and the national capacity increased by about 2 times in the past month. This is the bottom of the "gourd". The productivity of the melt blown fabric in the middle reaches is slow, and the number of manufacturers is relatively small due to the smaller structural impact of the previous market, which is the "waist of the gourd"; The leading producers of melt blown polypropylene in the upstream production are rapidly expanding, which basically meets the downstream demand for melt blown materials. This is the "upper end of the gourd". Taking Daun group as an example, the company has received orders for the next 2 months, and the melt sprayed daily output can be expanded from about 85 tons to about 200 tons today.

This embarrassing "slender waist" has become a "bottleneck" that restricts downstream expansion.

Reporter survey found that behind the bottleneck of the production capacity of the melt spraying cloth is that the expansion of the production line is difficult and long.

Yu Xiaoning and other industry insiders say that compared with the mask production line, the investment is small, the technical content is not high, the replication is fast and easy to operate, and the technology content of melted spray cloth is relatively high. The quality of the melted cloth directly determines the quality of the respirator. The investment of the cloth production line is often millions of dollars and tens of millions. Special training for staff.

At present, there are not many manufacturers supplying the complete sets of production equipment and key parts of melt blown fabrics in China. The production of core components such as spinneret and spinneret is still quite different from that of foreign manufacturers, and the delivery cycle and assembly time of imported equipment are relatively long. The import and delivery cycle of die head and spinneret is four to six months. The homemade die can be delivered in two months, but this short time delivery die can not be used for high-end medical products. Huang Wensheng said.

The procurement cycle for several months has limited the delivery capability of melt blown equipment, making it difficult to market overnight as a mask machine. It is understood that some sales of the melt melt cloth production plant is using inventory, rapid assembly of new production lines. However, the design, processing and commissioning of a complete production line will take about two or three months.

A supplier of melted cloth production equipment in Zhejiang said that the production line of melted spray cloth was really introduced, and the demand peak of the epidemic is long past. This worry has hindered many investors from entering this field. The scale of the melt blown fabric market is not large. Once the epidemic is over, the competition pressure of melt blown fabric producers will be very great.

Capacity to tap potential

Insiders pointed out that strengthening the industrial chain planning, mining the potential of related enterprises and leading enterprises, and maximizing the melt spraying cloth production capacity is imperative.

Experts believe that in order to solve the problem of insufficient supply of raw materials such as melt blown cloth on the industrial chain of masks, the following measures can be taken to ensure a stable price:

First, we should promote the production of similar technology and process enterprises to supply masks.

According to the statistics of China Industrial Textiles Association, the production process of China's nonwovens industry is mainly spunbonded. In 2018, the output of spunbonded nonwovens was 2 million 971 thousand and 200 tons, accounting for 50% of the total output of nonwoven fabrics, mainly used in the fields of sanitary materials and so on. Melt blown technology accounted for only 0.9% of the total, and the output of melt blown nonwovens was 53 thousand and 500 tons / year. These meltblown fabrics were not only used for respirators, but also for environmental protection materials, clothing materials, battery separator materials, and wiping materials.

Huang Wensheng said that enterprises producing materials such as automobile soundproof cotton, melt blown insulation cotton, melt blown oil absorbing cotton and other materials can turn over special filter materials for mask protection, and the annual production capacity of these enterprises is about 150 thousand tons. It is understood that BYD, Changan automobile, Beiqi, SAIC and other auto manufacturers have been making use of the advantages of the industrial chain to mobilize the technical transformation of the production line of the original melt blown cloth by the manufacturers of sound absorbing cotton, and transform the production of special filter materials for respirators.

Second, take the central enterprises as the leading part, and speed up the related production lines of the meltblown fabric.

The SASAC said that the SASAC attaches great importance to the changes in the supply chain and industrial chain of the domestic epidemic prevention materials, and guides the central enterprises to actively make up for the weaknesses of the short board.

Because the raw material of melt blown fabric is polypropylene from petroleum, petrochemical enterprises have advantages in the production of melt blown fabrics. The Sinopec has invested about 200 million yuan, and is building 10 melted spray production lines in Yanshan Petrochemical Company and Jiangsu Yizheng chemical fiber company in Beijing. After the production is put into operation, the daily output can reach 12 tons of N95 masks melt spray cloth or 18 tons of medical flat mask melted cloth, which can be processed into 18 million medical flat respirators.

Third, we should strengthen government regulation and ensure the balance between upstream and downstream supply.

Lei Limin, vice president of China Textile Business Association, said that the production situation of the mask industry chain is complex and the information communication is not smooth enough to understand the real situation of the resumption rate and the new production line. The industry believes that the mask industry chain presents "upstream raw materials market, downstream masks administration", the contradiction between market mechanism and plan management is constantly emerging, and it is suggested that administrative means should be properly intervened and straightened out.

Yu Xiaoning said that in the face of the epidemic, policy-making from the central government to the local authorities has solved many problems for the development of the industry. The next step is to strengthen the overall planning of the industrial chain and form an organic combination of the government, industry associations and enterprises. We will make a comprehensive statistics on the number, distribution, production capacity and construction capacity of the mask factories, cloth factories and raw materials factories by using big data. At the same time, when entrepreneurs organize various production tasks, they should improve their consciousness and cooperate with the government in order to fulfill the task of epidemic prevention and make the market more orderly.