"Hello, is this reporter Li? I saw your manuscript saying that there is a mask factory that needs to buy meltblown cloth. I have stocks here. Can you help and ask each other?"
Just because a previous manuscript mentioned in a manuscript of Hunan, the owner of a mask said: "The most lacking is the meltblown cloth, which cannot be bought at all. Now, as long as it is in stock, no matter what the price is, I want it.", "China Economic Weekly" The reporter recently received many such consultation calls.
Previously, with the increasing demand for masks at home and abroad, as the most important raw material for masks, the price of melt-blown fabrics rose like a rocket.
On March 11, the State Administration of Market Supervision's investigation on the sale of melt-blown fabrics by Zhangjiagang Junma Nonwovens Co., Ltd. in Jiangsu Province showed that before the epidemic occurred, the parties' melt-blown fabrics sold for 18,000 to 20,000 yuan per ton. However, since February, prices have been rising daily. At the end of February, the price has risen to 250,000 to 300,000 yuan per ton, and after March 2, it has risen to 400,000 yuan per ton.
In mid-April, melt-blown fabric sellers contacted by the reporter of China Economic Weekly raised the quotation from 400,000 yuan per ton to 600,000 yuan per ton within 3 days.
An owner of a business in Foshan, Guangdong, who switched to a mask during the epidemic said that in April, the melt-blown cloth was fired up to 1 million yuan per ton.
However, everything changes too quickly. In less than a month, the meltblown fabric market has plummeted. What made the hard-to-find meltblown fabric market change its face?
The rapid expansion of mask production capacity and the insufficient supply of raw materials are the direct reasons for the surge in the price of meltblown cloth in the early stage. According to public data, as of April 4, China's business scope includes masks and surviving enterprises totaling 69,000, of which 19,000 enterprises were added after the outbreak on January 25.
According to data from the National Development and Reform Commission, on April 30, the daily output of masks nationwide, including ordinary masks and medical N95 masks, reached 450 million. And in 2019, the total annual output of masks in mainland China will exceed 5 billion.
The so-called "the success of Xiaoya and Xiaohe", after the domestic epidemic was controlled, the market demand for domestic masks decreased and the price of masks gradually declined. The owner of a private mask manufacturer in Hunan said that although masks are still good, they are not as hot as in February and March. Some mask manufacturers that have been temporarily put on the market may encounter problems that they cannot sell before they can produce.
At the same time, a large number of giant suppliers directly crushed the market.
On May 9th, Sinopec announced that at 18:18 that day, with the successful launch of the 12th melt-blown cloth production line with an annual output of 500 tons by China Petrochemical Yizheng Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yizheng Chemical Fiber"), Sinopec was urgent during the epidemic. The 16 melt-blown cloth production lines deployed in two phases were fully completed. Together with the 7-ton capacity of the joint venture, Sinopec's daily melt-blown cloth production capacity reached 37 tons, with a total annual production capacity of more than 13,500 tons.
What is the concept of 37 tons per day? According to the owner of the mask manufacturer, a ton of meltblown cloth can produce about 1.05 million disposable masks of 25g, or 600,000 KN95 masks, or 400,000 medical N95 masks without loss.
Regulators are also stepping up to eliminate industry chaos. The above-mentioned Foshan business owner said, "Now the meltblown fabrics of poor quality can no longer be sold, on the one hand because of stricter market supervision, and on the other hand, the demand for domestic masks has not grown."
As early as March 10, the State Administration of Market Supervision issued a message that it is cooperating with the Ministry of Public Security to investigate and deal with illegal acts that disrupt the price order of the melt-blown cloth market, and cut off the illegal chain that drives up the price of the melt-blown cloth.
On the evening of April 29, the State Administration of Market Supervision issued the "General Administration of Market Supervision, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Commerce, the General Administration of Customs, and the Food and Drug Administration to hold a video teleconference." It will jointly supervise key materials such as masks and carry out special rectification.
At the beginning of April, Mr. Wang from Guangzhou went to Europe to scan the meltblown fabric and sold it to the domestic mask factory. The business was hot. I never thought that by the end of April, the policy would be tightened, and orders already received could not be delivered, and many meltblown fabrics could not be sold in the hands.
Also in April, in Yangzhong City, Jiangsu Province, which has the title of "Hometown of Meltblown Fabrics", relevant departments implemented "shock therapy" for the local meltblown fabric industry-suspension of business for rectification. Since then, some melt-blown fabrics of average quality on the market in the region have become "hot potato", facing the situation that there is no market for value and no one takes over. Small factories and workshops that produce inferior melt-blown cloths through the cottage melt-blown cloth machine are preparing to sell the equipment "out of the market."
Overseas masks are in great demand, but they also encounter many difficulties.
For example, the BYD "Black Swan" incident that has been widely discussed recently. On May 7, California Governor Gavin Newson said that California had previously ordered masks worth about US $ 1 billion from China's BYD. Of these, tens of millions of surgical masks had arrived, but the original one was scheduled for the same week. Millions of N95 masks were delayed due to federal certification issues. To this end, BYD needs to refund half of the $ 495 million prepayment paid by the California mask purchase contract, or $ 247 million (equivalent to RMB 1.75 billion).
It is understood that FDA has previously canceled the qualification of more than 60 Chinese companies to export to the United States, because after CDC testing, it was found that the filtering performance of N95 masks exported by some manufacturers did not reach 95%, and the filtering effect of some masks was even lower than 50%.
On May 11, BYD explained to the outside world that the current state of California mask orders is delayed delivery rather than cancellation, and has no impact on the delivery of disposable medical masks in the order.
China is also stepping up efforts to rectify the mask market.
On April 26, Gan Lin, director of the National Leading Group for Combating Infringement and Counterfeiting, and deputy director of the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration, introduced at the press conference of the State Council Office that the special action to combat the illegal production and sale of protective masks and other protective products has been launched. 89.046 million.
On May 9, the General Administration of Customs revealed the situation of 16 recently unqualified enterprises and related product batches of the quality and safety of exported anti-epidemic materials.
On the same day, in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, which is known as the "Global Small Commodity Capital", the Municipal Bureau of Commerce issued the "Notice on the Suspension of Market Procurement and Export of Specific Anti-epidemic Materials". Medical masks, medical protective clothing, ventilator, infrared thermometers and other medical materials and non-medical materials.
"China Economic Weekly" reporter Li Yonghua │ Beijing report