China Is Dominating The Global Production Of P.P.E. Products During This Pandemic

When it shifted a Southern California factory to making medical masks this year, QYK Brands had to import the fabric-cutting machines from China.Credit...Bryan Denton for The New York Times

New York Times: China Dominates Medical Supplies, In This Outbreak And In The Next

Government support and protectionism have built a low-cost industry making masks, testing kits and other health gear. Other countries will find it tough to compete.

BEIJING — Alarmed at China’s stranglehold over supplies of masks, gowns, test kits and other front-line weapons for batting the coronavirus, countries around the world have set up their own factories to cope with this pandemic and outbreaks of the future.

When the outbreak subsides, those factories may struggle to survive. China has laid the groundwork to dominate the market for protective and medical supplies for years to come.

Factory owners get cheap land, courtesy of the Chinese government. Loans and subsidies are plentiful. Chinese hospitals are often told to buy locally, giving China’s suppliers a vast and captive market.

Once vaccines emerge, demand will plummet. Factories will close. But Chinese companies are likely to have the lowest costs by far and be best positioned for the next global outbreak.

“The Chinese have been successful weaving global personal protection equipment dominance with supply-chain command and control,” said Omar Allam, a former Canadian trade official trying to establish production of in-demand N95 medical respirators in his country.

China’s grip on the market is a testament to its drive to dominate important cogs in the global industrial machine.

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WNU Editor: The only way that countries can break china's dominance in the production and trade of PPEs is to put up tariffs on Chinese medical goods, and provide a safe and profitable market for private manufacturers to step in and take their place. Otherwise we will be back to square one in the next pandemic.

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