The title picture is from IC Photo, this article is from WeChat public account: GQ report (ID: GQREPORT) , author: Liu neat
The global spread of new crown pneumonia has accelerated, and masks have become a scarce supply. After more than two months of difficult epidemic prevention, domestic mask production capacity was stimulated, and market supply was approaching normal.
China ’s masks are turning to export, and huge demand has created huge business opportunities. Two months ago, a flight and freight transported masks from different countries to China, but the opposite is now the case. Today, the world is tightly connected, and the spread of the epidemic has become fast and widespread. To solve this problem, it is precisely this close connection.
The direction of mask trade and the direction of virus flow
“No mask now, no one wants it?” On March 4th, in a mask transaction information group that was constantly updated with a frequency of seconds, a question suddenly appeared.
Stopped for two seconds, a row of sales and purchase information quickly brushed this sentence down.
“Disposable medical, 2.6 blocks, 5W”
“Receive 100,000 forehead guns, not for industry” …..
A long while, this dense line of information finally squeezed out a response to the previous sentence:
“It can be sold abroad. Take masks abroad, 10 masks for $ 20.”
At the beginning of March, there were many manufacturers with export ideas, but not many of them. Many countries have very strict qualification requirements for mask imports. Some factories asked about the CE certification required for export to the European Union, which took several months and gave up. At that time, new crown pneumonia was only diagnosed in other countries except China.Break ten thousand. On March 2, the World Health Organization stated that the new crown pneumonia epidemic has not yet constituted a pandemic, and in many European and American countries, no one can wear a mask on the street.
However, only a week later, things changed suddenly. On March 11, the World Health Organization announced that neocoronary pneumonia has pandemic characteristics.
As of 3:45 on March 27, Beijing time, more than 520,000 cases have been diagnosed worldwide, with Italy, the United States, Spain, Iran, Germany, and France being the most serious. The mask gap is getting bigger and bigger. On March 22, Italian media said that the country’s medical system was on the verge of collapse and that some hospitals in the worst-hit areas were severely lacking protective materials.
The United States Department of Health and Human Services estimates that in the United States alone, 3.5 billion masks will be consumed in the fight against the new crown virus.
At the same time, China’s epidemic is improving. Beginning in early March, domestic and online channels, which have been out of stock for a long time, have started to gradually put on masks. This is the result of a large number of companies expanding capacity, increasing production, and converting masks in the past month. According to the data of Tianye Inspection, from the perspective of the change of industrial and commercial registration, between January 1 and February, more than 4,000 companies across the country have added “masks” to their business scope. From March 1 to the present, new operations have been added nationwide. The scope includes more than 5,000 mask companies.
According to Lei Limin, chairman of the Safety and Health Protection Articles Committee of the China Textile Business Association, the number of various types of masks produced daily at the end of February reached 180 million, a number that continues to grow. The daily production capacity of a domestic mask market alone may exceed 50 million. Large companies have also entered the game. The daily production data of BYD Auto’s masks released on March 12 is 5 million, and it is growing at a rate of 300,000 to 500,000 per day.
China, as the world’s factory, is constantly releasing productivity—it has a complete mask supply chain industry, from polypropylene raw materials, to meltblown cloths, to mask machine equipment, among which the raw materials and components are related to the chemical industry. , Textile, machinery, metallurgy, electronics and other basic industrial categories, during the domestic epidemic, the mask capacity has been fully expanded. As a part of globalization, it will play a role in global trade.
Masks are a business, and during the epidemic it also became a symbolic business. The direction of virus spread is the direction of its flow, and the speed of trade is stepping up to catch up with the speed of virus spread.
Flying machines are always unavailable
From the second week of March, foreign trade orders from abroad have skyrocketed, and hundreds of millions of orders have been continuously flowing into factories with a daily output of hundreds of thousands. The waiting merchants crowded outside the factory door, and their phones rang all day long.
Changyuan, Henan, is known as the “Capital of Medical Devices.” A mask factory director said that the factory is currently working 24 hours a day and has not stopped from February to now. “Unless the machine is broken or there is no electricity, No rest. “
“We have more than 70 Eisai medical equipment companies here in Changyuan. We estimate that they are now exporting.” In the past, export orders only accounted for a small part of Changyuan. At this moment, all the neighboring factories he saw All are applying for export-related qualifications.
The foreign trade orders on his hands are waiting in line, most of them are Italian buyers. “There are one million, two million, five million, eight million, ten million, twenty million, and fifty million. One of the biggest lists in hand is from the United States. 300 million masks. “And his factory’s mask production capacity is one million a day. For a three-billion-dollar list, you can only find a few more factories and work hard. He estimates that the total number of masks produced by all the mask factories in the city can be between 50 and 70 million pieces per day.
Since the domestic epidemic, mask companies have been requisitioned by the government, but now they have gradually released or revoked their control. North Korea and the United States are one of the top ten domestic mask brands. During the epidemic, a large amount of production capacity was supplied to domestic hospitals and governments. Can export now, but face the situation that capacity cannot keep up with demand.
“Our production capacity is currently mainly matched with foreign orders introduced by the government.” Ye Shi, a staff member in charge of North Korea and North Korea, said. Countless calls are made every day to urge him to deliver. Some customers have already paid for their orders, and they cannot refund them. They still owe millions of goods. “
The demand received by North Korea and the United States is roughly divided into three categories. First, a large number of orders from abroad, the relevant government personnel to find the factory after matchmaking; second, domestic companies want to purchase to make donations, such as Alibaba; third, the foreign government through the National Labor Insurance Association. The final recipient of these orders is the countryOutside hospital or public system.
These orders are “ca n’t be answered but must be completed.” But if each order must be followed, the total is billions. He is scorched every day. “We haven’t signed an order right now. Basically, it’s the goods that are produced every day, how much we get, and we give each order a little.” Ye Shi said.
At this time, he felt that it was harder than during the severe domestic epidemic in February. “Before, with our production capacity, we could still achieve the goals given to us by the government when we took over the factory. Our employees worked 15 times a day Hours. But now this situation, we have recruited more temporary workers, and the 24-hour work is not complete. “
If you want to expand production capacity, one depends on the quantity of raw materials. span>, one depends on the number of devices. But at present, North Korea’s upstream supply chain has not responded after a sudden increase, and the new mask machine purchased by the factory will not be delivered until April. But now, all customers, without exception, require the end of March or the beginning of April, “this is impossible to complete.”
At present, a major factor restricting the production capacity of masks is still meltblown cloth. Although PetroChina and Sinopec have increased the raw materials required for the production of meltblown cloth, and various companies are also putting into operation a new meltblown cloth production line, for these mask factories that are continuously expanding production, meltblown cloth is still in short supply. “The output of Yanjiao Petrochemical is 50 tons a day. Do you think that 50 tons can solve the output of several mask factories? The demand of a mask factory is at least 5 tons.” Mask trader Liu Yang is looking for the cooperating factories everyday Meltblown cloth can only find one point at a time, “the manufacturer can only supply you about 5 to 10 tons at a time, and these will be consumed in one or two days.”
Xiantao, the largest producer of disposable masks in China, has basically resumed work. A medium-sized factory with a daily output of 500,000 masks claims that they have now received a large order of 10 million and the order is settled by the end of April. According to his understanding, all mask factories in Xiantao County are currently doing outsourcing. “As long as they can start, they are full, and it is difficult for you to squeeze in, unless it is a small workshop. Large factories basically receive outside Orders, now the big orders are foreign trade orders, domestic orders are very small. “
Difficult qualifications, goods waiting to be “accommodated” at customs
For a large number of newly-produced mask factories in China, it is the most important thing to export masks smoothly and solve the mask certification.
Each country has its own mask inspection standards, and all tests must be repeated. Domestic manufacturers make masks according to the GB standard, while the EU has to follow the EN standard. For example, the EU’s personal protective mask standard is EN149. According to the standard, the masks are divided into FFP1 / FFP2 / FFP3, and samples need to be sent to Europe for respiratory resistance and other tests. From preparing materials to sending samples to European testing, if there is a problem, the manufacturer readjusts. After completing this process, 2-3 months have passed.
European standard for personal protective masks
Now, a large number of proxy certification service businesses claiming to expedite EU CE and US FDA certification are emerging. The fastest 10 days can come down. An agency company told me that (23rd) from the beginning of March to now, they have signed more than 300 orders. Six times.
The number of applicants is still rising. One week’s offer of 50,000 yuan a card, and one week later will be 200,000. Another agency certification company claimed that “the FDA can be used for both medical and civilian types, and the cost is the same. If I do it, I can get the certificate directly without testing the product.” In fact, this type of agency is A certificate called “self-declaration”, that is, a method for an organization to issue a self-quality assurance statement for the company to assure the market that its products are compliant-CEThere is a “self-declaration”, but the FDA does not have such a form of certification.
Taking 10-15 days as a processing cycle, most manufacturers start to apply for the certificate in the second week of March. At this moment, it is time for the factories to harvest.
In the experience of mask trading middleman Yu Jianguo, March 21 is an important watershed. “Today, manufacturers across the country have raised their prices collectively because the CE certificate has been concentrated again and all of them have been put in place. The day before yesterday I took the goods (N95) There are many more, and the factory price is six today. “
Middlemen are the most aware of market changes. Zhang Sheng hoarded a large number of masks at the end of February for six or seven dollars. By March, the market was saturated and the price of masks plummeted. In the end, he could only clear four yuan. Recently, he made back the lost money—he has mastered several new plant resources that have just received the CE certificate, and at the same time has obtained large foreign orders. Now, he does n’t sleep anymore, and follows foreign Jet lag, sending a circle of friends to update sales information day and night-time is really money.
More factories began to print CE-marked goods before the CE certificate was issued. Changyuan’s manufacturers said that their CE certificates were issued about two days later, but the current order for CE goods has been queued to four. Month.
Of course, the true validity of these new certificates has also raised many doubts. For example, the European FFP2 level (requires the efficiency of filtering both oily and non-oily particulate matter ≥94%) appearing in the market today certificate, “To be honest, according to the standard, FFP2 masks must be produced with FFP filter material to achieve the standard. But FFP is not a material that can be done nationwide. “Ye Shi said.
A friend of Liu Yang exported a batch of masks to foreign countries in early March. All the goods were returned due to doubts about the authenticity of their certificates.
Recently, Europe and the United States have urgently relaxed the admission requirements for epidemic prevention materials such as masks. For example, the European Union stipulates that during the epidemic period, member states can centrally purchase epidemic prevention products without CE marking for medical personnel to use, and not circulate on the market. For companies like Chaomei, the orders are mainly concentrated on government procurement and delivery to hospitals. Instead of printing the CE mark on the masks, they can directly produce and deliver according to the national standards of medical protection KN95, civilian KN95, and KN90.
For goods imported as donations or purchased by the government themselves, entry standards are often relaxed. The 100,000 pieces of medical surgical masks that Liu Yang contacted were shipped to Iran.OI certification was brought into Iran with the help of CCPIT.
First for hospitals, it is still difficult for ordinary people in epidemic areas to buy masks
Some of Yu Jianguo’s friends squatted in multiple factories in Gaomi for many days, knocking on the door one by one for goods. Every day, the door of the mask factory opens, and the capacity of that day is almost sold out.
Out of stock. After paying the full amount, start ordering. Whose money comes first. Yu Jianguo said that some of his U.S. customers had just deposited US dollars into the account of the Chinese trading company. The US dollar had three days to arrive. Before the money was transferred from the trading company to the factory account, the set capacity had been completely drained Already.
Many people are smelling business opportunities, and the people who really catch the opportunity are limited. Masks have become the best and hardest business to do this year. Some people have become rich overnight, and some have been cheated out of their net worth. They are still on a difficult road to defending their rights. But even so, players of all sizes continue to enter the game.
The mask machine is now known as the “money printing machine” in the industry. When you put the original roll and start the machine, the mask will fly out at a speed of hundreds of pieces a minute, like a banknote flying.
At the beginning of February, Liu Yang and several investors who were planning to become mask factories discussed how to invest in large-scale mask factories. Several investors were worried that masks would not be sold after the epidemic. Liu Yang couldn’t help cursing, “I ask you, when will the epidemic end, can you control it, can you control it? Will the epidemic be China only, not necessarily?”
“Now, these people regret it. They said it was better to listen to me. They said they should have ten more mask machine lines. Now they are sitting at home and counting money.”
On the one hand, there are huge business opportunities surging, and on the other hand, ordinary people in epidemic areas in many countries still face difficulties in buying masks.
Many countries in the affected areas are coordinating the provision of local protective supplies to medical and public systems, and domestic mask manufacturers’ inventory and production capacity have been requisitioned.
One consequence is that the offline retail store is out of stock. Even if foreign trade companies import masks from China, offline retailing is more difficult, especially in EU countries. “They dare not follow the formal channels. The main problem is the risk. Are the certificates they imported from these masks really stand the test, Whether the price is reasonable or not is easy to go wrong in open channels. At that time, no one can afford this responsibility. “Yu Jianguo said.
The same is true of online stores. Many cross-border e-commerce platforms have banned the sale of mask categories. eBay releases announcement in early MarchTo put an end to chaos, the platform is removing the existing mask products, and Amazon announced in mid-March that it will no longer accept applications for selling mask products. However, by March 23, many businesses found that the mask category audit was quietly resumed, but the qualification audit was extremely strict.
Because the outbreak occurred earlier in China, overseas Chinese were warned early, and the mask inventory was sufficient. “We basically went to the supermarket in the end of January to stock up enough masks during the outbreak in China, and donated when we were able to buy short stocks in many local factories. Relatives in China were also very early (at customs (Before the ban was issued), the mask was mailed to us. “Said a Chinese who settled in the UK.
Based on what happened in February in China, it may be necessary to go to the hospital to resolve the shortage of masks before the people in the affected areas can buy masks. Therefore, the mask factory needs at least two weeks of production cycle, and at least one week of clearance and transportation time.
Since the outbreak of the New Crown epidemic, countries have adopted various closure measures, and some commented that it is “the end of globalization as we know it.” However, the virus does not take into account national borders. Even if the domestic epidemic situation has improved, imported cases from abroad have become the focus of prevention and control. The production and collaboration of Chinese masks in the world trade chain will ultimately help themselves.
Today, the world is closely connected, and the spread of the epidemic has become fast and widespread. To solve this problem, it is precisely this close connection. … p
As requested by interviewees, Ye Shi and Yu Jianguo are aliases
This article comes from WeChat public account: GQ report (ID: GQREPORT) , author: Liu Tutu