Global Demand For Medical Masks Has Surged By 13769%. Has Your Home Masks Been Exported?

With the spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic abroad, a "mask shortage" in many countries is hard to find. Global demand for masks in China has surged, and export certification is required before export.

Global caught in mask battle

Spain

According to foreign media reports, the price of masks in Spain's local pharmacies has risen, and 12.6 masks have been distributed to the euro area (about 100 yuan), so the citizens are forced to go out wearing plastic bags. According to the world newspaper, the rate of masks disappearing in the Spanish market seems to be 100% or even 1000 times faster than that of the virus. Pharmacies have been sold out, and other stores have begun selling industrial masks.

Italy

According to overseas reports, Italy Mask online price from 10 cents euro (about 0.76 yuan) to 10 euros (about 76.2 yuan, 100 times the price rise). According to DPI, a medical device company based in Rome, Italy, Italy has been using up 10 years of masks inventory in 10 days.

Japan

According to Japan's news agency, the price of masks in Japan has skyrocketing recently. The average size of a medical respirator (40 suits) is up to 200 thousand yen, with an average of 5000 yen (about 323.5 yuan). It is reported that due to the spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, coupled with the onset of hay fever, the demand for masks per week in Japan has surged to 900 million.

U.S.A

According to reports, the price of medical masks on the US electronic commerce platform has soared, and some have even increased the highest price to $1000 (about 7021 yuan). In response to congressional questions, U.S. health secretary Alex Azar said the United States needs to expand the production capacity of medical masks. Currently, 30 million N95 medical masks are in stock in the United States, but there are still 270 million gaps.

The Republic of Korea

According to the data released by the statistics office of Korea, the online sale price of KF94 masks is more than 4000 won, which is 6-8 times higher than that before the epidemic (700-800 won), and the prices of drugstores, supermarkets and other entities are maintained at 2000 won level. According to data from China International News Agency, the demand for masks increased by 76 times in the past month. At present, South Korea has implemented the mask purchase restriction measures, 2 per person per week.

Iran

According to Phoenix News, masks are now at a high price in Iran. The price of the mask is 330 thousand Iran rial (about 66 yuan), and a mask has increased 30 times.

France

According to the French magazine "duck Ming newspaper", France's current mask production potential reaches up to 40 million per month. If the epidemic is accelerating in France, the current domestic mask production capacity may not be able to meet the needs of epidemic prevention. The French Minister of health has announced measures to restrict people buying masks. From now on, it is necessary to rely on doctors' prescriptions to buy masks at drugstores.

Indonesia

To ensure local supply, Indonesia announced in March 13th that it temporarily banned the export of masks to meet the needs of domestic industries and consumers until the supply was sufficient.

Ukraine

LIGA business network in March 11th quoted the Vice Minister of economic and Trade Ministry of agriculture, CIC card, the government will ban the export of epidemic prevention products before June 1, 2020. Kachka said that the commodities banned for export include waterproof test clothes, polyester gloves, medical unsterilized gloves, nitrile gloves, disposable medical isolation clothing, medical mask, goggles, FFP2 mask.

Germany

In March 4th, Germany also banned the export of all kinds of medical protective materials such as goggles, respirators, protective clothing and gloves to foreign countries.

Nowadays, the global mask competition has been intensified due to export ban and other reasons. It is reported that France has forced a mask manufacturer in the country to cancel a large order from Britain. According to the Italy state Daily reported on March 13th, a business in Italy bought about 830 thousand masks from China, but because of the ban issued by Germany, it could not be transported back to Italy. Although it was allowed to release, the mask was missing.

Demand for Chinese masks surged

Last week, Chinese clothing had reported that the United States urgently cancelled tariffs on more than 100 Chinese medical products, such as masks, because the gap was as high as 90%. In the application document submitted by the US office to the US trade representative office, it is clear that the limited capacity of a few American manufacturers is difficult to rapidly expand and expand production scale to meet domestic demand. According to the quality and safety level of product requirements, no other country or region has such capacity except China. To replace the manufacturer, it will take longer delivery time and extensive testing, certification and approval. In February 21st, Japan announced the gradual resumption of imports of masks from the Chinese market.

"China is a big country in the world. It has been providing medical and civilian masks export services to countries all over the world for many years, and its export volume is stable at more than 70% of the annual production scale." On March 5th, Li Xingqian, director of the Ministry of foreign trade of the Ministry of Commerce, said that many countries had extended their help to the epidemic prevention and control work at the previous stage. We are willing to help our countries in fighting against the epidemic situation in the areas of masks and other medical protective materials.

He pointed out that the mask is a free trade product and the Chinese government has not set any trade control measures. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the Ministry of Commerce, as the centralized management department of foreign trade, has never issued a ban on the export of masks and their raw materials, and enterprises can carry out relevant trade in accordance with the principle of marketization. In March 12th, Li Xingqian, director of the foreign trade division of the Ministry of Commerce, said again that the Chinese government will continue to support export enterprises to organize external supplies of medical supplies such as masks, and make due contributions to global epidemic prevention.

According to big data from Alibaba international station, demand for orders for overseas masks has soared in recent years. In recent 30 days, the demand for medical masks has increased by 13769%. "Now, both domestic and foreign, the order volume is very large, and the pressure of masks is very heavy." A company with mask business said.

What is interesting is that during the epidemic period, a number of listed companies have gradually switched to masks and protective clothing business. However, in the absence of foreign masks, many investors have poured into the investment interactive platform to consult the relevant listed companies: "do enterprises have export medical equipment qualification? Are corporate masks intended to export overseas? Are overseas orders full?"

European and American sales need CE and FDA certification

However, the export of masks also needs to meet certain conditions. According to the relevant regulations, China's export masks need to have certain qualifications. After relevant certification, they can be openly sold in the United States, the European Union, Japan and South Korea and other countries and regions. In Europe, the sale of medical masks to get CE certification, in the United States to pass FDA certification.

CE certification is regarded as a passport for manufacturers to open and enter the European market. It is issued by the NB institution (the announcement body authorized by PPE law). At present, the European Union's implementation standards for personal protective masks and medical masks are EN149 and EN14683 respectively. Because of the different standards of execution, the masks with different protection levels need to be provided with certification materials and the execution process is different. But generally speaking, the application process of personal protective masks is relatively simple, time-consuming and relatively inexpensive.

FDA certification in the US is relatively strict. For example, the general respirator only needs to be certified according to the FDA medical I class in the United States. It usually needs to fill in the application form, get the PIN code and pay the annual fee until the registration number is issued. However, the medical surgical masks need to be certified according to the FDA medical II class of the US, and increase the number of links such as product testing, 510K file review and so on. The certification of medical N95 and above 9 kinds of masks in the market requires the implementation of NIOSH certification standard. Enterprises need to send samples to the NIOSH Laboratory for testing, and submit technical data (including part of the quality system) to NIOSH language examination. After the examination and examination, NIOSH will issue approval.

However, according to a number of service agencies, as long as the manufacturers cooperate, generally within two weeks can pass the certification. In view of the hot business situation, some agencies even launched "urgent services", from the complete submission of information and samples to certification through only 3 working days. But the charges for such services are relatively high, usually 25 thousand yuan to 30 thousand yuan (refer to CE certification only). Under normal process, the CE certification for personal protective masks costs about 15 thousand yuan, while medical masks offer a high price between 18 thousand yuan and 22 thousand yuan. The total cost of FDA certification in the United States is higher than that of CE certification. The service fee is only 20 thousand yuan, plus the fixed fee for application certification, which is expected to exceed 50 thousand yuan in general.

Even so, the recent business of masks export certification service is also very popular. A consultant said the cell phone had been "explode". Due to the significant increase in the number of recent certification applications, several European CE certification bodies have ceased issuing certificates.