More than 3,000 companies join mask production "Bing Corps" Meltblown cloth supply shortage prices rise more than 5 times

As more than 3,000 companies such as Sinopec, BYD, and Foxconn joined the mask production force, mask production has also entered an accelerated phase.

On March 2, the National Development and Reform Commission announced that it will focus on promoting the resumption of production of mask companies, guiding the support of enterprises to expand capacity, increase production, and shift production. The daily production capacity of masks in China has continued to grow rapidly and both have exceeded 100 million.

However, affected by the supply of meltblown cloth, mask manufacturers in various regions have entered a period of shortage of raw materials. The price of meltblown cloth keeps rising. According to the estimation of the interval price, the price has increased by more than 5 times.

Since the epidemic, Sinopec and other companies have been quicker and faster, and have built 10 meltblown cloth production lines.

"In recent years, the development of the domestic meltblown cloth market has been relatively stable and the market capacity is limited." Long Zong Information analyst Dou Bingkun said in an interview with the "Securities Daily" reporter that after the outbreak, in addition to the existing mask companies actively increase construction. Load and new production lines to expand production capacity, the market has emerged a large number of new mask production capacity, this situation is bound to exacerbate the tight situation of domestic raw material supply, especially meltblown cloth.

Sinopec accelerates production of meltblown cloth

On March 2, a reporter from the Securities Daily learned from the Sinopec News Office that the feasibility report for the 4,000-ton polypropylene meltblown nonwoven project of Sinopec Yizheng Chemical Fiber was officially completed. The project is expected to be completed in mid-April. The output can reach 12 tons, which can be used to process 12 million medical flat masks.

The project builds a total of 8 meltblown cloth production lines with a total capacity of 4,000 tons per year. After being put into operation, it can produce 8 tons of N95 meltblown cloth or 12 tons of raw materials for medical face masks. These materials can produce 2.4 million pieces of N95 masks or medical planes. 12 million masks.

At the same time, at 11 am on March 1, a truck loaded with 10 tons of mask meltblown cloth special materials was sent from Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Jinchang Company to Henan meltblown cloth manufacturer. This is the company's third batch of mask meltblown cloth materials sent to Shenzhen and Suzhou. It is expected to be used to produce 10 million pieces of ordinary disposable medical masks.

In fact, since the outbreak, Sinopec has been continuously increasing the production capacity of mask raw materials.

In response to the current severe situation of epidemic prevention and control in the country and the shortage of core raw materials for masks, on February 24, Sinopec Corp. took advantage of its own raw material production to immediately organize supply and build 10 meltblown cloth production lines.

It is understood that Sinopec will invest about 200 million yuan this time to accelerate the construction of meltblown non-woven fabrics (ie meltblown fabrics) and spunbond production lines in Beijing Yanshan Petrochemical and Jiangsu Yizheng Chemical Fiber. Beijing Yanshan Petrochemical will build 2 meltblown cloth production lines and 3 spunbond cloth production lines, which can produce 4 tons of N95 meltblown cloth or 6 tons of medical flat mask meltblown cloth each day. These materials can produce 1.2 million pieces of N95 masks, or 600 Ten thousand medical flat masks.

Sinopec spokesman Lv Dapeng told the Securities Daily reporter that as the largest medical materials supplier with an annual output of nearly one million tons in China, since the outbreak, Sinopec has prioritized the production and supply of urgently needed materials for epidemic prevention and fulfilled society based on its business advantages. responsibility. The company co-ordinated arrangements for all relevant refining and chemical companies to adopt emergency adjustment and scheduling plans, increase the equipment load, develop full capacity to produce medical polyolefins, increase the supply of raw materials for medical and health materials, and give full play to the advantages of chemical sales network channels to connect downstream customers in a timely manner. Demand, help resume work and production, and vigorously alleviate the shortage of medical and health materials caused by the surge in demand.

Meltblown cloth supply still in short supply

It is understood that meltblown cloth is the core material of masks and is called the "heart" of masks. Medical masks and N95 masks are composed of a spunbond layer and a meltblown layer. The spunbond layer and the meltblown layer are both made of polypropylene PP material.

In addition to Sinopec, current companies producing meltblown cloth include Shandong Junfu, Tianjin Teda, and so on. Among them, Shandong Junfu and Tianjin Teda's daily production of meltblown cloth exceeds 10 tons. Generally speaking, the industry layout is relatively scattered, and there are not many large enterprises capable of producing meltblown cloth.

BYD has recently stated publicly: "I have a mask machine and no meltblown cloth." In fact, there are not a few companies like BYD that lack meltblown cloth.

"Mask production is difficult because the production of meltblown cloth, one of the key raw materials, is limited." Dou Bingkun told the Securities Daily reporter that meltblown cloth is a necessary raw material for the production of filter masks. For ordinary medical surgical masks, one layer must be used. Meltblown cloth, N95 masks need to use at least 3 layers of meltblown cloth. On the whole, insufficient supply of upstream raw materials, coupled with the surge in supply of downstream equipment, are the main reasons for the current shortage of meltblown cloth in the market. The current output of medical meltblown cloth is far from meeting the capacity of mask production equipment.

Although companies such as Sinopec are urgently increasing meltblown cloth production lines, compared with a large number of new mask companies, the shortage of meltblown cloth supply is difficult to ease in the short term.

In this regard, Dou Bingkun stated that, from the perspective of cost, compared with the production line of masks, the cost of participating in the production of meltblown cloth is too large. The equipment for the production of meltblown cloth has a domestic price of about 5 million yuan and imported equipment of more than 10 million yuan. Secondly, from the purchase of the equipment to the actual production, the production cycle of the meltblown cloth is as long as 1 month to 3 months, which greatly limits the participation of the industry.

Due to insufficient supply of meltblown cloth, prices have continued to rise. "With the development of the epidemic, the price of meltblown cloth has risen successively, from 20,000 to 30,000 yuan per ton, gradually rising to 100,000 yuan and 200,000 yuan." Dou Bingkun also told the Securities Daily reporter. At present, the reference price of the meltblown cloth market ranges from 200,000 to 300,000 yuan per ton, and the price of high-quality meltblown cloth reaches 500,000 yuan per ton. (Securities Daily)

Our reporter Li Chunlian