Recently, melt-blown cloth, the core material of masks, has become popular.
Due to the shortage of supply and the rapid rise in prices, meltblown cloth has recently formed a very strong seller’s market. “Except for melt-blown cloth, everything else is easy to talk about.” “Recent inquiries for melt-blown cloth have quoted at least 200,000 yuan/ton, and it is not uncommon for 30,000 to 400,000 yuan. But two weeks ago, we purchased 80,000 yuan/ton. tons, the highest is only 120,000 yuan/ton.” A manufacturer said that although the prices of earbands, nose strips and other materials are also rising, the supply is not in short supply. Only meltblown cloth has formed a very strong seller’s market.
So, why does the price of meltblown cloth increase so fast? What is the current production capacity and output? Why can’t we expand production on a large scale? When will the mask production demand be met? Meltblown fabric manufacturers also have a lot to say…
Why is the demand for meltblown cloth soaring?
Facing the surge in demand, what is the current production capacity and output of meltblown cloth?
Melt-blown cloth is the key material that brings virus filtration to masks. It can be called the “heart” of medical surgical masks and N95 masks. Medical surgical masks generally adopt a multi-layer structure, with a single spunbond layer on the inside and outside, and a single or multi-layer meltblown layer in the middle. Meltblown cloth is the best material for the meltblown layer. Meltblown cloth uses polypropylene as the main raw material, and the fiber diameter can reach 1-5 microns.
According to statistics from the China Industrial Textiles Industry Association, my country’s total nonwoven production in 2019 was approximately 6.2 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 4.5%. Among them, the total output of spunbond nonwovens is approximately 3.1 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 5%, accounting for 50% of the total nonwovens output; the total output of melt-blown nonwovens is approximately 55,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 2%. It accounts for 0.88% of the total nonwoven production, and its products are mainly used in fields such as filter materials, oil-absorbing materials, sound-absorbing and thermal insulation materials, and battery separators. Under normal circumstances, only about 10,000 tons of melt-blown cloth are used for mask production each year. Its market demand is relatively stable in the long term, and there are not many large-scale enterprises in China that can produce melt-blown cloth. Under normal circumstances, 1 ton of meltblown cloth can produce approximately 1 million to 1.2 million flat masks or 300,000 to 400,000 medical protective masks.
In the early stages of the epidemic, a large number of mask and melt-blown nonwovens manufacturers in the industry actively cooperated with the government to ensure the supply of epidemic prevention materials with high quality and low prices; at this stage, due to the increase in mask production capacity There has been a significant increase. A group of new production companies have no stable supply channels. Stimulated by market demand and high profits, the supply of meltblown nonwovens has been tense.
According to the National Development and Reform Commission, the current national mask production capacity utilization rate has reached 110%, the national mask daily production capacity has reached 110 million, and the daily output has reached 116 million. . At present, 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities except Tibet have successively launched new mask production lines, and new mask production lines are constantly being put into production. In addition, in order to alleviate the shortage of masks, many non-mask manufacturers have also converted into mask manufacturers. These companies do not have or lack fixed supply channels for meltblown cloth, so they have to seek purchase through various channels.
In addition, it should be noted that as companies gradually resume work and schools reopen, the daily demand for masks will be greater, and the demand for meltblown cloth will continue to increase.
Why can’t meltblown cloth be expanded in large quantities?
Mask production lines are put into mass production. Why don’t manufacturers take the opportunity to expand meltblown cloth production capacity? When will the tight supply of raw materials for masks be alleviated?
According to the China Industrial Textiles Industry Association, the investment in meltblown nonwoven equipment is large and the construction period is long (at least 3-4 months, normally more than half a year). In addition Debugging and officially reaching production take longer.
According to industry insiders, compared with the mask production line, which requires less investment, low technical content, fast replication, and easy operation, the production technology of melt-blown cloth is higher, and the quality of melt-blown cloth is directly Determining the quality of masks, the investment in cloth factory production lines often costs millions or tens of millions. Equipment manufacturing and installation are much more complicated than mask production equipment. The requirements for factories are also relatively high, and special training for staff is required.
At present, there are not many domestic manufacturers that provide complete sets of production equipment and key components for meltblown cloth. The production of core components such as spinnerets and spinneret dies is still closely related to foreign manufacturers. There is a big gap, and the delivery cycle and assembly time of imported equipment are relatively long.
The months-long parts procurement cycle limits the delivery capacity of meltblown cloth equipment, making it difficult to launch it on the market “overnight” like a mask machine. It is understood that some companies that sell complete sets of meltblown cloth production equipment are using a small amount of spare parts in stock to quickly assemble new production lines. However, the design, processing, and debugging of a complete production line can take at least two to three months.
A meltblown cloth production equipment supplier in Zhejiang said that it has actually introduced a meltblown cloth production line, and maybe the demand peak caused by the epidemic has already passed. This kind of worry has also hindered many investors from entering this field. The market size of melt-blown cloth is not large. Once the epidemic passes, the competitive pressure on melt-blown cloth manufacturers will be very high.
The relevant person in charge of a melt-blown cloth company introduced that the company installed two melt-blown equipment in 2016, which can be said to be the most advanced in the country, but due to…�The market size is too small, the operating rate of enterprises is seriously insufficient, and it is on the verge of bankruptcy in 2019.
Regarding the recent surge in the price of melt-blown cloth, many people in the industry believe that a large number of mask machines are currently online, and there is a shortage of melt-blown cloth, so the price increase is the natural law of the market. Although the price of meltblown cloth is high, its cost ratio in masks is not high at all. An industry insider calculated a cost account: 1 ton of meltblown cloth can make 1 million medical surgical masks. If calculated based on 200,000 yuan/ton, meltblown cloth only accounts for 0.2 yuan in the cost of a mask.
Another person in charge of the company suggested that regardless of whether it is a medical melt-blown cloth or a civilian melt-blown cloth, during special periods, relevant departments should have unified control to make it clear whether the items have actually arrived at the terminal manufacturer. hands to prevent middlemen from sitting there and raising prices.
Explore production capacity and increase the development of alternative materials
Industry insiders pointed out It is urgent to strengthen the coordination of the industrial chain, tap the potential of related enterprises and leading enterprises, and maximize the production capacity of melt-blown fabrics.
At present, the market trend of melt-blown nonwovens has mainly undergone the following changes: On the basis of the original daily output of more than 30 tons of melt-blown nonwovens for masks, firstly, the original production Melt-blown manufacturers of automobile sound insulation materials, thermal insulation materials and oil-absorbing materials have partially switched to producing filter materials for masks through technological transformation, with a daily output of about 100 tons; second, the original manufacturers of SMS (spunbond melt-blown composite) non-woven fabrics have adjusted The production process can increase production capacity by about 60 tons per day; third, central enterprises represented by Sinopec and others have also accelerated investment in the construction of meltblown cloth production lines, effectively increasing a certain amount of production capacity.
Zhonghao Chenguang Research Institute, a subsidiary of China National Chemical Corporation, has independently developed a high-tech material called expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (e-PTFE) microfiltration membrane, which can replace melt-blown cloth , and can withstand washing, disinfection and other procedures, making it reusable.
On March 6, Sinopec and Sinomach Hengtian Group successfully built the first new meltblown cloth production line in China since the outbreak of the new coronavirus. The production line has an annual designed production capacity of 14,400 tons, including two melt-blown non-woven fabric production lines and three spun-bonded fabric production lines. Currently, it can produce 4 tons of N95 melt-blown cloth or 6 tons of medical flat mask melt-blown cloth every day. These raw materials can produce about 1.2 million N95 masks or about 6 million medical flat masks.
On the whole, the daily production capacity of melt-blown nonwovens will reach about 200 tons, which can satisfy about 200 million flat masks or 60 million medical masks. The total quantity of protective masks can meet the minimum demand. The current shortage of melt-blown nonwovens is caused by a combination of factors such as the difficulty in increasing the production capacity of melt-blown nonwovens in the short term and the surge in downstream mask production capacity.
Although the production capacity of melt-blown nonwovens has been released to the maximum, prices are still rising rapidly due to the contradiction between supply and demand. This is mainly due to the increase in factor costs (raw materials, electricity, labor, transportation, etc.); secondly, the cost of production conversion increases. On the one hand, the original melt-blown nonwoven fabrics have a large production capacity loss from thick to thin, and the transformation investment cost is high; on the other hand, through the improvement of the SMS composite production line Process transformation, shutting down the production of S layer and M layer alone, which is high in distribution and low in use (M layer has a low gram weight, only accounts for about 10%), resulting in large production capacity losses and high transformation costs; third, there are many price increases in the circulation field, and the economy is facing a shortage of masks Under the expected impact of high profits and insufficient supply of raw materials, the price of meltblown cloth will also rise rapidly.
The China Industrial Textiles Industry Association is also currently calling on enterprises in the industry to actively respond to the national call and ensure the supply of national emergency protective materials with priority, quality and price; on the premise of ensuring product quality , strictly control production costs, reduce circulation links, eliminate market speculation, maintain market order, and demonstrate social responsibility.
Melt-blown nonwoven process, as a special high-melt index ultrafine fiber molding process, has not received enough attention from the country and society. After this epidemic, the association recommends The state provides certain protective policies for idle production capacity of emergency supplies.
The epidemic is an order. We believe that all these efforts will greatly alleviate the shortage of meltblown cloth and help the country win this anti-epidemic defense war from the source. </p
