Mask maker faces high demand
French factory works to meet demand after coronavirus outbreak
ANGERS, France — The relentless whir of machines echoing across a cavernous French factory floor is an unexpected result of the deadly virus that has nearly paralyzed cities in China and other parts of Asia.
The company, Kolmi Hopen, makes an item that is suddenly one of the world’s hottest commodities: the medical face mask.
The factory typically makes around 170 million masks a year, but in the last week orders arrived for a staggering half-billion, flooding the sales department’s inboxes at the rate of one every two minutes. Kolmi Hopen is racing to hire more workers to keep the machines running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“We’re making masks as fast as we can,” said Guillaume Laverdure, chief operating officer of Kolmi Hopen’s parent company, Canada-based Medicom, as forklift drivers moved boxes of freshly finished masks into trucks.
“But demand is still rising,” he added. The coronavirus outbreak has set off a run on protective masks across China and in major cities. To curb the spread of the virus, the Chinese government has ordered citizens to don masks every time they go outside. Medical professionals said once used, a mask must be replaced with a fresh one, driving an explosion in demand. Grim scenes of people lined up for hours to get a protective face covering, only to be turned away when pharmacies run out, have become familiar.
“I can’t find a single mask to buy,” said Sandy Lo, 60, in Hong Kong. “I don’t know what stores have stock anymore.” She said she reuses old masks “because what else could I do?”
Most of the world’s face masks are made in China and Taiwan. But factories there, including ones run by Medicom, have been forced to temporarily halt exports to comply with government demands to reserve them for frantic residents.
Last week, the Chinese government, conceding it was in urgent need of medical masks and other protective gear, said it would begin importing them from Europe, Japan and the United States to help make up for the shortfall.
It has made the Kolmi Hopen outpost in western France an unlikely hot spot. Phones at the factory have been ringing off the hook as medical supply buyers scour the globe for mask-makers.
Demand is especially strong for highfiltration respiratory masks, which can be more effective against the spread of virus-laden droplets than surgical masks, Laverdure said. Laverdure declined to discuss financial details, including the cost of the masks.
Scientists said there isn’t much evidence that masks actually protect healthy people — hand washing may be more important.
Still, as the coronavirus spreads, with thousands of confirmed cases and hundreds of deaths, experts fear that supplies of face masks and other sanitary protection items will run low in other countries — even for routine medical use. Pharmacies in the United States have begun reporting shortages.
The frenzy of orders at Kolmi Hopen shows the large-scale disruption China can create in the global supply chain for even the most specialized products, if factories there fail to operate at full strength.
China produces about half the world’s sanitary face masks — around 20 million a day, supplying hospitals and medical workers in numerous countries. Taiwan makes up another 20% of the global supply.