Note: this guide is intended for people who are looking to source a large quantity of reliable masks from China (e.g., medical facilities).

Originally posted on jessy.io

Background (TLDR):

Back in February 2020, China had an incredible shortage of supplies for PPEs, masks and respirators were the most scarce. Price of masks went up about 10 - 30x the price during "peace times." Price of mask fabric (e.g., meltblown) too.

This is due to mandatory wear of masks outside for every. single. person. in China - that's 14 billion masks per day if everyone went out every day for 4 hours.

Some people would buy a bunch and hoard until prices go up, and then sell. Others would turn their factories into masks factories despite not having the qualified fabric nor manufacturing license. But the worst is some would recycle used masks and resell. Terrible and disgusting.

China manufactures 50% of the PPE (personal protective equipment) supplies globally, but because everyone was quarantined at home during Chinese new year, most factories weren't open/up-to full product capacity.

Now that China is maxing out its PPE factory capacity with additional manufacturers in the industry, it's ready to help the world with its supplies. Although, some suppliers are only in it for the money, and they don't care about you and your health.

This guide will provide you with some basic overview of the masks/PPE supplies landscape in China.

Actual guide:

Types of factories:

Licensed:

• A certain # of factories were licensed to produce medical supplies before the outbreak
• A certain # of factories are granted the right to manufacture medical supplies after the outbreak, due to the emergency

Not licensed:

• A large # of factories just decided that making masks is going to be very profitable, so they turned their factories into masks producers. Many don't using reliable fabric

Individual dealers:

• These individuals don't have a factory but help connect buyers to suppliers with margin added as commission - it can be hard to tell whether their sources are reliable

Types of masks/price: