A few days ago, the General Administration of Customs issued an announcement on the implementation of export commodity inspection on 11 categories of items such as medical masks, which once again attracted attention to masks. As the new coronavirus continues to spread around the world, N95 mask machines, which are mainly exported, have become the target of competition.
“Spot welding machine, chip making machine, small melt-blown machine, As long as the stock is available, the price is easy to negotiate.” In order to get a mask machine in stock, many business owners even squatted in front of the mask machine factory to wait for shipment. Some listed companies have also renovated their production lines and urgently switched to producing mask machines. However, problems such as delivery risks caused by repeated reselling, repeated debugging caused by hasty launch, and high defective rate caused by lack of experience also surfaced.
Hidden risks, “bad guys” frequently appear in mask machines
“Mask machines are money printing machines.” In the past two months, this sentence has been firmly believed by businesses from all walks of life. “I haven’t even gone home during the New Year. I have been scrambling for it since the beginning of the year. I watched the price of a fully automatic KN95 mask machine rise from a Touron to a Bentley.” Mr. Li, a factory owner in Shenzhen, told reporters that under the epidemic, , the fully automatic KN95 mask machine has soared from 400,000 yuan to a maximum of 4 million yuan. “Now it has fallen back, and the price is also around 1.3 million to 1.8 million yuan.”
The impact of capital and some local policies is also heating up this market. As early as February, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology offered production incentives to equipment companies such as mask machines and other key urgently needed equipment and key components. The reward amount can be up to 50% of the selling price of the equipment. Golden Sun, a listed company that produces mask machines, received a letter of concern from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange for winning three consecutive daily limits. Even listed companies such as Yinghe Technology and Topstar have crossed over to focus on the mask machine business.
Various capitals have entered the game, and whether it is a fully automatic or semi-automatic KN95 mask machine that can be assembled, or even just machine spare parts, there is a rush to buy in stock. “As long as the goods are in stock, the price is easy to negotiate.” A Zhejiang business owner shouted in a mask machine QQ group. Although active sellers in a large number of mask machine QQ groups claim to “spot transactions” and “don’t bother with intermediaries,” many business owners complain that most of the people they come into contact with are “traitors.”
“There is no spot, they are all futures, and I have to go to the factory to get it.” A Dongguan “tramp” told reporters that the fully automatic KN95 mask machine currently in hand The futures price is 1.4 million yuan, and the goods can arrive in 14 days at the earliest. The futures price of the semi-automatic KN95 mask machine is 950,000 yuan, and the goods can arrive in 8 days at the fastest. “You need to pay a 50% deposit, and then pay the balance after shipment. If you encounter If the orders are full and need to be canceled or postponed, you will be compensated five thousandths of the deposit loss.”
On the one hand, you can only get scheduled orders, but on the other hand, you have to give them to strangers. The “trailing man” issues half of the payment as a deposit – which means that the buyer has to bear considerable delivery risk.
The price of drawings has increased, and commissioning engineers have become a hot commodity
The owners of small and medium-sized enterprises who could not get the finished machines started to assemble them by themselves, trying to “follow the drawings”. The reporter found that the drawings of KN95 mask machines are currently priced at hundreds to thousands of yuan on e-commerce websites, including circuit diagrams, gas circuit diagrams, small body parts lists, etc.
“This is not an ordinary drawing on the market. It is an upgraded version that has been verified and repaired and improved by production. It can directly copy the machine.” A businessman told reporters that the new N95 in his hand The production line drawing of the semi-automatic film maker is priced at 1,800 yuan, including completed 2D and 3D drawings. It can be put into production directly after assembly according to the drawing.
Whether it is a machine pieced together according to drawings or a ready-made set, an industry insider told reporters that mask machines are “three-point machines and seven-point debugging.” In addition to debugging by dedicated personnel, secondary design is often required. In the QQ group of mask machines, various messages urgently looking for debuggers pop up from time to time: “I beg for technicians who can debug N95 equipment!” “The ear straps of the mask machine cannot be clamped, they keep cutting, and the operation is unstable. Is there any Can the master solve it?”
“Before, our salary was generally only 8,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan, but in the most exaggerated period in the past two months, the manufacturer could offer 20,000 yuan a day. The wages are very high. Now if you charge on a per-machine basis, a mask machine will be adjusted to about 30,000 to 50,000 yuan.” Master Zhang, whose team specializes in debugging mask machines in the Pearl River Delta region, told reporters with emotion that some manufacturers import machine parts. It is too light and cannot be used, and it is difficult to solve the problem of defective rate through repeated debugging. “Once there is a problem with the sheeting or sealing, most of them have to be scrapped, and a lot of meltblown cloth is wasted. We are anxious to see it.”
Supervision has tightened, and qualification certification has become a “tightening curse”
The reporter learned that masks can be roughly divided into two categories: ordinary masks and medical masks. In addition to obtaining import and export rights, different countries and regions also require different qualifications for customs clearance. For example, medical masks need to be certified by the US FDA before they can be put on the market, and masks exported to the EU need to be affixed with the CE mark regardless of whether they are medical or non-medical. Domestic manufacturers need to conduct certification in advance according to the relevant requirements of the country where foreign customers are located.
“Recently, many mask factory exports in Shenzhen cannot pass customs and are returned directly.” Mr. Li lamented to reporters that many companies that temporarily changed careers did not understand the relevant aspects of export certification.In addition, there are many institutions that issue CE certificates on the market, and some certificates are not certified by the EU at all. Many “intimate services” claiming to be “expedited certification” hide various risks.
“The intermediary provided certification by a third-party organization, and the customs couldn’t issue it. I sent more than a dozen certificates to the customs, but they all said no. It’s a waste of money, but the key is I can’t afford to waste time!” A business owner became anxious in the QQ group.
It is understood that taking EU CE certification as an example, formal CE certificates can only be issued by notified bodies authorized by the EU to issue CE certification, such as SGS, TUV, Intertek, etc. However, not all notified bodies can issue CE certification for masks. Qualification certification has become a “tightening curse” for mask export companies.
In order to regulate the export of medical supplies such as masks, the General Administration of Customs, the Ministry of Commerce and the State Food and Drug Administration recently issued an announcement requiring companies exporting medical masks to commit to exporting products that have obtained my country’s medical certification. The device product registration certificate complies with the quality standard requirements of the importing country (region). The customs specifically reminded that qualification certificates required for customs clearance in the destination country are also necessary, such as FDA, CE, etc. </p
