2020 is destined to be a heavy year that people will never forget.
At the beginning of the year, a sudden and unexpected new coronavirus epidemic broke out and spread rapidly. It is still raging around the world. The outbreak of the epidemic has brought the usually unknown mask back into the public eye, and has become a standard feature of people’s daily life; it is even compulsorily used in many countries, regions and places, thus becoming an important item that countries are competing for. Strategic epidemic prevention materials.
As the country where the epidemic first broke out and was successfully controlled, China has taken the lead in entering the normalization stage of epidemic prevention and control—— Production and life have fully returned to normal. As a country with the most complete industrial chain and industrialization system, China is becoming an important supplier of global anti-epidemic materials and plays a pivotal role in the global response to the epidemic.
According to the white paper “China’s Actions to Fight the New Coronavirus Epidemic” published by the State Council Information Office on June 7: On the basis of meeting the needs of domestic epidemic prevention and control, China has found ways to purchase epidemic prevention equipment for various countries. Provide support and convenience to the best of our ability for materials, clear up blockages in demand docking, supply organization, logistics and transportation, export customs clearance and other aspects, smooth the export link, and carry out the export of epidemic prevention materials in an orderly manner. We will take effective measures to strictly control quality and standardize order, publish information guidelines for foreign market access of anti-epidemic supplies, strengthen supervision of the market and export quality of anti-epidemic supplies, and provide the international community with urgently needed anti-epidemic supplies in quality and quantity to fight the epidemic. From March 1 to May 31, China exported anti-epidemic materials to 200 countries and regions, including 70.6 billion masks, 340 million protective suits, 115 million goggles, 96,700 ventilators, and 225,000 test kits. 100 million people, 40.29 million infrared thermometers, and exports showing a significant growth trend, which strongly supports the epidemic prevention and control of relevant countries. From January to April, the number of China-Europe train trains and the volume of goods sent increased by 24% and 27% respectively year-on-year, and a total of 660,000 pieces of anti-epidemic materials were transported. It played a role in maintaining the smooth flow of the international industrial chain and supply chain and ensuring the transportation of anti-epidemic materials. important role.
Long before the COVID-19 epidemic, China was already the world’s largest producer and exporter of masks, with industrial and commercial registration business scope There are 16,625 companies that include “masks, respiratory protection”, with a daily production capacity of up to 20 million pieces; in 2019, the output of masks in mainland China exceeded 5 billion, accounting for 50% of the global annual output, with an output value of 10.235 billion yuan.
Since the outbreak this year, more than 9,000 companies have joined the mask production industry by the end of March, and production capacity has also experienced explosive growth. The current daily output has reached more than 200 million pieces. .
It is an indisputable fact that China is the world’s largest mask producer and exporter. What is sad is that as a major country in the production and export of masks, China’s domestic brands have an extremely low market share. The top three brands combined account for less than 20% of the market share; and more than 80% are from the United States. 3M and Honeywell, as well as Unicharm, Japan’s largest mask manufacturer, were divided among them. The prices of these foreign brands are often more than 10 times the domestic prices.
It is not difficult to know from the data “China’s mask output exceeded 5 billion in 2019, with an output value of 10.235 billion yuan”: each one averages more than 2 yuan. Low quality and low price are the main characteristics of China’s mask industry. The current situation of China’s mask industry disclosed by the media is indeed the same: many companies started from making cotton swabs and cotton balls with very low production technology thresholds, and upgraded to the production of disposable protective equipment such as medical masks, pads, and protective clothing, gradually forming an industry. Inertia – a serious lack of technological innovation and R&D capabilities, long-term stagnation in the mass production of low-value, low-profit civilian masks and ordinary medical masks, and reliance on fierce price competition to survive. A certain mask production enterprise in Guangdong can produce up to 1 billion masks of various types annually, with an output value of only 50 million, and an average income of 5 cents per mask. The profits of OEM companies are even thinner: the owner of a mask factory in Jiangsu said that he OEMs 300 million masks for Japan a year, with the ex-factory price of each being only 2 cents, and making less than 5 cents per mask!
China’s mask industry has a large number of companies and a small scale, which makes the industry as a whole follow the trend and rely solely on the market. Driven by the survival mode, “first blowout, then second blowout” occurred during major periods such as SARS in 2003, H1N1 influenza in 2009 that ravaged the world, northern China was plagued by severe smog in the winter from 2013 to 2017, and this year’s new crown epidemic. The huge peaks and valleys of the “back cliff”.
Statistics from a medical testing equipment website show that before the epidemic, although more than 16,000 domestic companies had registered business scope that included masks, only 358 production companies had effective ” “Medical Device Product Registration Certificate”, among which only 56 companies have the production capacity of “medical protective masks” and 149 companies have the production capacity of “medical surgical masks”. And because N95 masks need to obtain NOISH certification, there are even fewer companies with this qualification. </o�If enterprises do not take the initiative to innovate and keep up with changes in the business environment, they will be abandoned by the times. In the great wave of business innovation, technological power is of vital importance. The rise of companies such as Didi and Ele.me is achieved through the integration of new technologies and business, achieving digital and intelligent transformation, and finally reshaping the business model.
Currently, China is in the normalization stage of epidemic prevention and control, and the new coronavirus that is still raging around the world has become a major issue for Chinese masks The transformation of the industry from a large producer and exporter to a powerful mask country provides a rare historical opportunity. We can only seize and make good use of this opportunity, overtake in corners, continuously strengthen brand building, and launch more new protective products with completely independent intellectual property rights that demonstrate China’s innovative wisdom. Only in this way can we become a strong country in mask production and join the ranks of “world-class” brands as soon as possible, so as to realize the true value of Chinese masks and provide more and better services to the people of China and the world. </p
