N95 face masks on a production line of KYD, an automatic mask machine factory in Dongguan, South China's Guangdong Province on Thursday. Photo: Wang Bozun/GT

Chinese mask makers are working in full swing to fulfill rising orders from the UK and other European countries as cases of mutated coronavirus variant are reported. Experts predict that China's mask exports will increase by 3-5 percent in December.

A variation of the novel coronavirus was recently detected in the UK and the World Health Organization has been notified. Several countries have announced measures such as closing their borders and banning flights from the UK.

Mask orders have risen sharply, especially for those produced with high-grade materials that can be used repeatedly, with some orders being delayed for months, the Global Times has learned.

As a result of the mutation in the UK, the public is attaching importance to epidemic prevention, which has pushed up masks export, Chen Hongyan, secretary-general of the Medical Appliances Branch of the China Medical Pharmaceutical Material Association, said on Tuesday.

Health Box, a domestic supplier of KN95 masks for medical use, saw UK and European orders grow significantly this month. The company's face mask offers high levels of protection and can be used up to 60 times, unlike ordinary face masks, according to the company's own report.

"We have inquiries for about 30 million masks from the UK, with a value of about 400 million yuan ($61.24 million) in total," Huang Yuhao, president of Health Box based in East China's Anhui Province, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

However, the company is having difficulties filling the orders, since special non-woven fabrics used in the masks are imported from the US, where limited supplies have created hurdles, said Huang.

"We have received export orders of up to 400 million masks, but only 160 million can be delivered now, with the rest delayed until March," said Huang.

As production capacity of surgical masks has risen in China, prices have fallen to about 1-2 yuan from 3 yuan a mask in April.

Producers are so squeezed that many ordinary mask suppliers can hardly break even, although those making high-grade masks like the KN95 model can survive.

While this type of mask usually costs about 128 yuan in the US, the price is less than 20 yuan in China, Huang said. Also, a major reason behind the big price gap is that Chinese factories are more likely to take the production of masks as a public service and do not want to make huge profits from it.

"We hope that more people can use them as an epidemic prevention measure until effective vaccines are widely available," said Huang.