Three months ago, I couldn’t even buy a mask in all pharmacies. Today, as tens of thousands of companies across the country transition to mask production, we see that the domestic mask market has reached a balance between supply and demand. Moreover, my country exported 27.8 billion masks overseas in March and April this year. What happened behind the rapid changes in just three months?
On May 16, the “Dialogue” column of CCTV Financial Channel told us about the Chinese manufacturing behind the masks . In the program, Sinopec spokesperson Lu Dapeng showed people the “cross-border” path of Sinopec to “build the world’s largest meltblown cloth production base in 76 days” during this epidemic.
1
How are mask companies doing now?
In fact, if you want to describe the work rhythm of major mask manufacturers from the Spring Festival to now, it would be “busy”. At present, there is no longer a shortage of domestic masks in the market. Is the work pace of mask companies a little slower? Not really!
Dong Xiang, President of Beijing Natong Institute of Medical Science and Technology:
Natong Group has entered the production process of masks since February Since then, we have been working at a high level and at full capacity. The machine does not rest, so the production staff works in two shifts every day.
Zhang Zhengnan, General Manager of Henan Yadu Group:
We are Before the Spring Festival, production was at full capacity on New Year’s Eve, and our production site is still very busy from New Year’s Eve until now. I think the busyness after March and April was more caused by foreign public opinion. From a mental point of view, I was not as mentally stressed as before.
Cui Wenbo, General Manager of Xinxiang Huaxi Sanitary Materials Co., Ltd.:
75% of the masks we currently produce are exported to European countries such as the UK, France, and Spain. Now we still have to work around the clock to produce anti-epidemic items.
Huang Wensheng, General Manager of Shandong Junfu Nonwoven Co., Ltd.:
On January 21, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology directly informed us that we would give up the Spring Festival holiday, so our ten melt-blown lines have been operating at full capacity.
Three months ago, it was hard to find a single mask; now, supply and demand are balanced, thanks to the efforts of so many companies. The following number is very real:
From 20 million to 200 million, these two numbers represent February this year , changes in China’s daily mask production capacity.
With the spread of the epidemic abroad and the growth of domestic production capacity, China exported a total of 27.8 billion masks in the two months from March 1 to April 30. According to figures released by the Foreign Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce, 1.06 billion masks were exported on April 24 alone.
In three months, masks went from being in short supply to exporting more than 1 billion in a single day. What kind of power is made in China behind this?
Sinopec has an e-commerce platform called Epac, which is engaged in trading. Although Sinopec could not produce melt-blown cloth at that time, Epack had a batch of melt-blown cloth, about 100 tons. If these more than 100 tons can be turned into masks, the number will be more than 100 million.
If we negotiate according to the normal business process, it will take more than 40 days, so we thought of using new media to quickly match raw materials and equipment and turn meltblown cloth into masks earlier. . On the afternoon of February 6, after the message “I have meltblown cloth, who has a mask machine” was posted on Weibo, the social response was very enthusiastic. The phone number of the contact person at that time was immediately flooded, and by noon on the 7th, 11 messages had been completed. Line production contract.
2
Why is Sinopec involved in mask production? Some people may I feel confused, why does Sinopec want to participate in the production of masks?
In fact, it is related to the core melt-blown cloth of masks. Sinopec is the upstream supplier of raw materials for masks. It has never been involved in melt-blown materials, melt-blown cloth, or even mask production before. In order to fight the epidemic, we fight hard!
Polypropylene is originally a plastic product produced by Sinopec. There are about four steps from polypropylene to masks. , if we take food as an analogy, it is equivalent to the process from wheat to steamed buns.
The first step is polypropylene special material, produced by Sinopec, which is equivalent to wheat.
The second step is called melt-blown material, which is equivalent to the step from wheat to flour.
The third step is melt-blown cloth, which is roughly equivalent to combining the dough into one dough, just like we make a very thin dough. Sent.
The fourth step is the mask, which is equivalent to steaming the dough into flower rolls or steamed buns.
Through these four links, Sinopec “cross-border” converted production and “built the world’s largest meltblown cloth production base in 76 days.”
In the early days of the epidemic, there was another reason behind the shortage of masks, which was melt-blown.��It’s too scarce.
Dong Xiang, President of Beijing Natong Institute of Medical Science and Technology:
Before the epidemic, Natong was a manufacturer of Class III medical devices. As a manufacturing company, after the epidemic broke out, that is, starting from February 2, we received a request from the Haidian District Government of Beijing until we were able to put into production. It took a total of five days, which was our first announcement on February 7. The mask production line was built. Through this cooperation with Sinopec, our mask production capacity has grown rapidly.
Huang Wensheng, General Manager of Shandong Junfu Nonwoven Co., Ltd.:
In the past three months, we have felt very stressed because the meltblown cloth is too tight. We ourselves also feel that we can’t bear it. At present, we feel that the entry of Sinopec will relieve us a lot of pressure.
Sinopec has opened up the entire mask industry chain, and has transformed from a person who grows wheat to a person who processes starch, rolls the dough, and steams the flower rolls, all the way to making masks. However, the process of getting through was not smooth, and one can imagine the difficulties involved.
Sinopec, itself a supplier of raw materials, has opened up the entire mask industry chain in order to fight the epidemic, switched to the production of melt-blown materials, built a melt-blown cloth production line, and produced self-produced masks. Behind this is the rapid response of many manufacturing industries.
3
Why is Sinopec meltblown cloth everywhere
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Next, there is another set of shocking data:
The above Figures, this is the crazy price of some meltblown fabrics on the market during the past period. The price per ton has increased from 18,000 or 20,000 to hundreds of thousands.
As the core material of medical masks, melt-blown cloth has been in short supply since the outbreak, prices have skyrocketed, and many melt-blown cloth manufacturers have cut off supply. Behind the fanaticism, it reflects the madness and speculation of the market.
What kind of impact has the meltblown cloth priced at one price a day had on mask manufacturers?
Zhang Zhengnan, General Manager of Henan Yadu Group:
The price of melt-blown cloth is rising one after another. Make the entire production enterprise feel like riding a roller coaster. There are all kinds of melt-blown fabrics in the circle of friends, but only the manufacturing companies do not have melt-blown fabrics. In addition to testing the quality of melt-blown fabrics, manufacturers also need to have a keen eye to distinguish which ones are genuine melt-blown fabric providers and which ones are liars.
Cui Wenbo, General Manager of Xinxiang Huaxi Sanitary Materials Co., Ltd.:
For example, they ask you to send a series of documents to verify assets, then pretend to be some internal staff of Sinopec to call you, and then ask you to receive them. Later, we contacted the people from Sinopec’s EPEC. After the real contact, we found that the prices quoted by these fake Sinopec people in the market were much higher than the transaction prices of Sinopec.
People all over the world are saying “I am Sinopec and I can provide you with meltblown cloth”, but in fact this Many of them are liars.
In order to enhance credibility, scammers give out Sinopec’s delivery orders in a decent way, and some scammers fake Sinopec meltblown material packaging bags , a bag has been sold for 200 yuan, seriously disrupting the normal order of the market, and also causing serious damage to Sinopec’s business reputation and brand reputation.
In fact, Sinopec issued a solemn statement as early as the first batch of melt-blown cloth leaving the factory, and issued statements many times afterwards to remind Mask manufacturers should be careful not to buy counterfeit products.
Sinopec spokesperson Lu Dapeng:
The melt-blown fabrics produced by Sinopec in the early stages were managed according to wartime conditions. , through relevant governments tracking its flow, designated processing, and then the provincial government’s provincial-level industry and information departments or the National Development and Reform Commission carry out unified purchasing and storage to ensure local supply and stabilize local mask prices. Sinopec now bears the political and social responsibility of producing at affordable prices and putting them into the market at affordable prices to stabilize prices.
At this stage, the international demand for masks is relatively large, so there are some domestic export companies that have a strong demand for meltblown cloth. As the epidemic situation improves in the next step, meltblown cloth will gradually fall back and return to rationality.
In the process of fighting the epidemic, many companies are involved. Polypropylene in the upstream, meltblown cloth in the midstream, and mask machines in the downstream, all links in the industrial chain have jointly supported China’s explosive mask production capacity in a short period of time, and no link among them can be missing.
A small mask is all made in China. So many companies quickly switched production to produce masks and meltblown cloth, even if they were not veterans in this field before. Every enterprise that contributes its own strength to the country and people is the cornerstone of Made in China.
Nothing is ever easy, taken for granted, or achieved overnight. Today’s “Made in China” is based on decades of accumulation in my country’s industrial system and is independent innovation that is not afraid of “stuck”. This is the confidence we need to win the battle against the epidemic and face various difficulties and challenges.
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Nothing is ever easy or taken for granted , accomplished overnight. Today’s “Made in China” is based on decades of accumulation in my country’s industrial system and is independent innovation that is not afraid of “stuck”. This is the confidence we need to win the battle against the epidemic and face various difficulties and challenges. </p
