Since the new year, the Omicron epidemic has swept Europe and the United States. Recently, US President Biden made a public speech on the latest situation of covid-19 pneumonia. In his speech, he said that at present, the new round of epidemic caused by Omicron virus strain is seriously affecting the United States and called on people to wear masks. In order to call on people to actively cooperate with epidemic prevention and wear masks, Biden called wearing masks a “patriotic obligation”. He said that he can understand that wearing masks makes people “uncomfortable” and “makes neck pain”, but wearing masks is an important means to prevent the spread of the virus.
Biden also said that the United States will distribute high-quality masks (such as N95 or kn95 masks) to Americans free of charge. It is said that the United States has more than tripled the national inventory of N95 high protective masks to ensure wide public access to these masks. He said masks are a key tool to help control the spread of the Omicron virus.
Omicron is undoubtedly a more infectious variant. At the initial stage of the outbreak, the R value of the infection number of the strain quickly rose to 3-5, that is, each infected person infected an average of 3-5 people, much higher than 1.1-1.2 of delta strain. Strengthening the density of wearing masks may be the most effective response to new variants with high infectivity.
At present, the prices of N95 and kn95 masks on mainstream American shopping websites such as Amazon have soared. According to the price tracking website, the price of a package of 40 kn95 masks from third-party sellers on Amazon now reaches $79.99, up from $16.99 at the end of November last year. If the United States starts to promote the use of N95 masks on a large scale, the price rise may continue.
Mask is a kind of low value medical consumables, but N95 mask has high standard and difficult technology. There are only 54 certified global N95 mask manufacturers released by CDC in the United States, mainly foreign manufacturers. Among the Chinese manufacturers, the most famous is the Byd Company Limited(002594) shares that cut into mask production in 2020.
The agency said that in recent years, Chinese low-value consumables enterprises have shifted their attention from the international market to the Chinese market and actively developed their own brands. However, from the perspective of China’s listed companies of low-value consumables, the revenue mainly comes from overseas, most of China’s businesses do not account for a high proportion, and domestic sales are in the initial stage of independent brands. However, China’s low-value consumables market benefits from the growth of medical demand and the improvement of residents’ consumption level. There is a large space in the future, with an annual growth rate of about 20%. Since the epidemic, there has been a global shortage of epidemic prevention materials. The export of epidemic prevention materials in China has opened up a large number of overseas new channels and new customers for relevant enterprises, which is conducive to the development of export business in the future.
At present, according to the interactive platform Q & A and the company announcement, the listed companies are clearly involved in the N95 industrial chain as follows:
TEDA technology : China’s largest manufacturer of oral filter cloth. It is the only manufacturer in China that can produce mask cloth that meets American N95 and European P1 and P2 standards.
Chongqing Zaisheng Technology Co.Ltd(603601) : the holding subsidiary Shenzhen Zhongfang has four production lines of low resistance melt blown materials, which can meet the consumption of 8 million N95 masks a day. The low resistance melt blown materials are the core filter materials of N95 / n99 masks
Allmed Medical Products Co.Ltd(002950) : the company’s mask series products include disposable medical masks, medical surgical mouth devices, N95 medical protective masks, etc.
Suzhou Harmontronics Automation Technology Co.Ltd(688022) : the company has developed a fully automatic N95 / kn95 mouth production line to meet the needs of mask production equipment from Chinese mask manufacturers.
Winner Medical Co.Ltd(300888) : since the outbreak of New Coronavirus, the company has produced N95 mouthpieces and medical masks, protective clothing, alcohol disinfectant tablets and other medical supplies.
Zhende Medical Co.Ltd(603301) : on the interactive platform in March 2021, the company said that the daily output of plane masks and kn95 masks was about 15 million and more than 1 million respectively, and the production and sales were normal.
Blue Sail Medical Co.Ltd(002382) : it was indicated on the interactive platform in August 2021 that the company has protective masks, folding masks, kn95 masks and other products.
Guangzhou Improve Medical Instruments Co.Ltd(300030) : the subsidiary Guangzhou Improve Medical Instruments Co.Ltd(300030) (Hunan) has obtained the medical surgical oral registration certificate and has the N95 oral supply qualification.
China Resources Sanjiu Medical & Pharmaceutical Co.Ltd(000999) : produce oral products with the same N95 protective material.
