At a time when countries prohibit exports of anti-coronavirus supplies from their territories, China has become the main global source of masks, respirators and protective suits.
In a report published by the Russian "News Re" website, the author, Lyubov Glazunova, said that only in March this year, China earned 1.4 billion dollars in sales of medical materials abroad, and although importers complained about the deterioration of the quality of Chinese products, they had no other choice but to import those products. .
Since the epidemic began, China has stepped up its purchases of goods to fight the virus, surpassing its needs at the time, and imported between January 24 and February 29 last 2.5 billion units of medical equipment, including protective suits, masks, gloves and devices. Mechanical ventilation.
As it managed to control the situation and limit the spread of the virus, a large part of Chinese purchases remained in stores, and Beijing now sells them to other countries at double prices compared to before the crisis.
Convincing diplomacy
Within the framework of the so-called "masks diplomacy", the countries that have close relations with Beijing receive medical equipment at reasonable prices, while part of this equipment is provided in the form of aid to countries that have suffered massive human losses as a result of the epidemic, such as Italy, and at the same time , Cambodia and the Philippines pay five times the real price of the same goods.
China exported nearly four billion masks, more than 37 million protective suits and more than two million thermometers, as well as ventilators and test kits abroad.
It is noteworthy that before the spread of the epidemic, China used to manufacture about half of the medical masks in the world, but under the new circumstances, the manufacture of masks doubled 12 times compared to what it was previously, and it has become one of the few industries that bring back high profits, amid the global economic downturn.
| China earns $ 1.4 billion in medical commodity sales abroad (Reuters) |
Tightening export terms
The author stated that often hurriedly manufactured equipment did not meet the quality standards, which forced the Netherlands at the end of last March to cancel an order from the 600,000 Chinese masks after it was found to be loose and not in conformity with the quality standards.
Spain followed in the same footsteps when it canceled an order for rapid coronavirus testing from a Chinese diagnostic company after it was found that this equipment did not detect the infection well.
In response, China stated that it had tightened terms of export of medical products and launched an investigation against manufacturers that did not adhere to quality standards.
"China has adopted more stringent standards, so Chinese certified companies are ready to supply high-quality medical products to the world," the author quoted Huan Min - a representative of the Guangdong Institute of Quality Control of Medical Equipment in the field of medical mask production - as saying.
The author indicated that despite the high prices and the deterioration of the quality of Chinese products, importing from China is still the only way to overcome the lack of equipment for some countries, especially since most countries have banned the export of such products with the epidemic gaining significant momentum.