Since novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak, masks supply is very concerned. As the key material of mask filtration, melt blown cloth can be called the "heart" of medical surgical mask and N95 mask.

In recent years, due to the sharp increase in demand for masks, the supply of melt blown cloth is also very tight, and the price has even doubled a dozen times, which can be said to be "one cloth is hard to find". The contradiction between the supply and demand of the melt blown cloth is also directly reflected in the market price. In addition to the fixed allocation by the government, the price of the melt blown cloth in the market has also increased from 20000 yuan per ton before the epidemic to 300000 yuan per ton now. We have learned that at this stage, the production capacity of masks has been greatly improved. Only from January 1 to February 7, more than 3000 enterprises in China added masks business, and market demand and high profits have boosted the tense situation of the supply of melt blown cloth.

The shortage of melt blown cloth has become one of the key factors for the tight supply of masks. How to fill the gap? When will this tense situation be relieved?

We have learned that in order to alleviate the current supply shortage in the melt blown cloth market, China Chemical Group has recently developed a new alternative material, which has been put into the production of masks. This new material, called expanded polytetrafluoroethylene, was originally used in high-end fields such as aerospace, with a relatively high price. Recently, due to the continuous high price of melt blown cloth, it also has the market promotion conditions. It can be equivalent to N95 or KN95 standard isolation capability, and it has good air permeability and can be used multiple times. In addition to the development of alternative products, 10 melt blown cloth production lines, including Sinopec's emergency construction, will be put into production one after another, with an additional capacity of 18 tons per day, that is, the capacity of raw materials for 18 million masks.

Li Lingshen, President of China Industrial Textiles Association: it is estimated that by the end of March and the beginning of April, we can reach 200 tons of melt blown nonwovens every day, and we can make 200 million to 250 million masks. Now we use a word called tight balance. It should be said that the temporary emergency can be basically satisfied. All factors will make the production of the melt blown cloth increase slowly, relieve the tension of the melt blown cloth, and make the price of the melt blown cloth rational.