Pawel Ossowski for PMR: Record demand for protective masks

Ten post jest także dostępny w języku: polski

On Wednesday 12 February the global number of coronavirus cases exceeded 45,000, of which 44,700 were reported in China. – We have never seen such a boom in disposable medical equipment, such as protective masks or disposable gloves – says Pawel Ossowski, Vice President of the Management Board and Managing Director of Zarys International Group in an interview with PMR. Zarys has a wide range of non-woven products in its portfolio, which account for about 20% of the company’s revenues.

China is a basin for the production of disposable products

Paradoxically, most manufacturers of medical safety equipment conducts contract manufacturing in China. The province of Hubei, which is the epicentre of coronavirus, is even the home of manufacturers of medical gloves, masks and other medical disposable products. –For this reason, shortages of disposable medical equipment may soon appear on the world market. Considering the scale of the Chinese market, there are hundreds of millions of people living in the provinces, where it is already mandatory to wear masks. It is not difficult to predict that the demand for masks will quickly start to exceed the supply. After all, one can wear only a few hours – stresses Pawel Ossowski.

The factories in China already operate exclusively for the Chinese government and the internal market. The Chinese market is so absorbent that it will accept any amount of goods, including mass-produced goods from all over the world. Therefore, in order to help those in need and fight the coronavirus, Zarys has decided to donate 100,000 medical protective masks of its own production to China free of charge. The masks were donated directly to the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Warsaw. –Disposable medical protective masks from BETAtex series have all certificates and are made of three layers of non-dusting and hypoallergenic non-woven fabric. They are used to protect patients and medical staff from nose and mouth infections and drip-transmitted infections – explains the director of Zarys International.

There is no coronavirus in Poland, but…

Shopping panic is mainly seen in China for the time being. However, also in Poland there is an increased interest in disposable protective equipment. On the open market, in pharmacies, masks are already missing. –Until now, protective masks were mainly sold to hospitals, used by doctors and medical staff. Apart from Japan, nowhere in the world has the industry sold disposable protective products to ordinary people on such a large scale. Nevertheless, such panic is not expected as in China, unless further suspicions of coronavirus infection are confirmed in Poland – points out Pawel Ossowski.

In the short term, for companies producing disposable medical equipment, the crisis related to the coronavirus epidemic may be an opportunity to increase revenue, but in the long term it may turn against them. The company’s vice-president emphasises that Zarys International Group’s priority is to ensure constant supplies to domestic medical facilities, hospitals with which the company has signed contracts. Despite the momentarily favourable price offers, the company does not speculate and provides permanent stocks in warehouses.