People purchase toilet paper in a Costco store in Markham, Ontario, Canada on March 3. Photo: GT

The ongoing spread of the coronavirus has brought about uncertainties in the shortage of daily products from China, including tissue paper in some epidemic-hit countries, while Chinese producers said that they are still not at full production capacity and are ready to produce more.

As the epidemic continues to spread, more and more photos of people coming out of stores with bags of tissue paper and empty shelves at some stores have bone viral on social media and even some media reports. Yet the Global Times learned that there is no need for fear of shortages of tissue paper as more will and can be shipped from plants in China if there is a need. 

A manager surnamed Xie with Wanjiang Fenjie Paper Proceeding in South China's Guangdong Province, told the Global Times on Sunday that they are not at full production capacity yet, but can be ready at any time if needed.

"We just dispatched a container of tissue paper to the US in late February. It would take a month to arrive," she said, adding that currently, demand is high and therefore the company does not have products available at the warehouse that are ready to dispatch.

"Our production goes with orders," she said, adding that if the client makes an order today, it would take 10 days to produce at least one container. 

Customers in New York are expected to receive orders in about a month and for Australian clients, the delivery time would be about half a month, she said.

The company produces tissue paper for countries such as the US, Canada, and Australia.

Another manager surnamed Zhang who works with a local paper plant in Fujian Province said that the factory has partially resumed production but not all, due to the outbreak.

Although he heard that tissue paper is running out in certain stores in some countries, he has not been approached to deliver more products.

"We have delivered some orders to the UK, and it would take some time before a new order comes to us," he said, adding that foreign customers need not worry about a shortage of tissue paper since the company can use its full production capacity with flexible work shifts if needed.

The coronavirus outbreak has led to rising uncertainties about possible shortages of certain products ranging from masks to drugs and now to tissue paper, with media reporting that many retailers in epidemic-hit countries say that their tissue paper will be out of stock in days.

Sang Baichuan, director of the Institute of International Business at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, told the Global Times on Sunday that China's production capacity is very strong, but it has not yet fully resumed due to the outbreak. 

"If the yield of products is normal or high, and the export channels are smooth, the manufacturers can provide large-scale supplies of tissue paper or other basic daily commodities for foreign markets," Sang said.

Meanwhile, Sang called on Western countries to give China convenience in foreign trade. Otherwise, even if China has more tissue paper, it will be difficult to reach consumers.

According to the online data platform Qichacha, there are 2,181,000 sanitary product-related enterprises in China, of which 35,000 have import and export credit, accounting for 1.58 percent of the total.