BEIJING, March 17 (Xinhua) -- China's production capacity of melt-blown nonwoven fabric, a key material for masks, has expanded significantly in past weeks amid efforts to control the novel coronavirus outbreak, which has eased market price surge of the material.
As of March 12, there have been 347 enterprises in China involved in melt-blown nonwoven fabric production or businesses, 112 more than the February level and 3,633 percent higher than a year ago, Tuesday's Securities Times reported.
In the meantime, up to 38,151 firms have embarked on mask and respiratory protective gear production or related businesses, 1,561 percent more than the same period last year, it said, citing data from Tianyancha.com, an online query platform for enterprise information.
The fast expansion in production capacity led to a drop in the melt-blown nonwoven fabric's market price, which has come down from a peak of 500,000 yuan (about 71,476 U.S. dollars) per tonne in early March to around 350,000 yuan per tonne.
However, the shortage in market supplies of the fabric has not been fully relieved, the newspaper said.
With more listed companies turning to melt-blown nonwoven fabric or mask production, some are considering exports as the virus spread globally. For instance, Guangzhou Improve Medical Instruments said the company has increased exports of epidemic prevention products to regions including Europe, the United States and Southeast Asia.
As a major producer of masks, China has been providing protective products to the global market for years. Over 70 percent of the country's annual mask output is for export, official data has shown.
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