Upcoming Trends - Respiratory Masks

In the COVID-19 pandemic, surgical and respiratory masks play a key role, limiting the transmission of coronavirus by blocking droplets. These masks are the most effective and economical measure of non-pharmaceutical intervention to curb the spread of infection, which has been made mandatory by different governments to wear in public. In hospitals, surgical masks are an unavoidable necessity, and respiratory masks offer high-end protection against pathogenic microbes and viruses, which inevitably leads to huge demand from public employees and health workers. Increased demand, mass procurement, recent product launches and creative characteristics by key players are major factors expected to drive the growth of the market.

The global respiratory masks (N95 respirators, surgical masks, and others will rise at a CAGR of 22.9 percent as there is a huge increase in demand due to preventive measures being taken across the world against the spread of Covid-19. An increase in demand for respiratory masks used for preventive and precautionary measures has been triggered by the unprecedented coronavirus outbreak. Governments around the world advise or enforce compulsory steps to use face masks to prevent the spread of airborne particles, raising the market for these masks.

According to a report by Fatpos Global, as global demand for N95 masks skyrocketed in 2020 as a result of the pandemic of coronavirus (COVID-19), manufacturers rushed to increase production to satisfy the demand. In 2019, N95 masks had a market value of over 802 million U.S. dollars. By 2027, this value is expected to rise by more than double to nearly US$ 1.90 billion. It is projected that by the end/winter months of 2020, the production of highly protective N95 face masks in the United States alone would rise to 180 million units per month.

As the effect of the pandemic begins to fade and the industry recovers, OEMs will find distinct ways to bring customers back to the fleet. For instance, as the coronavirus pandemic intensifies again in parts of the world, 3M has continued to ramp up the production of its N95 respirator masks. In late January, just weeks after the novel coronavirus appeared in China late last year, 3M started increasing its production of N95s. This year the industrial giant is now on track to manufacture 2 billion N95 masks, of which about half will be in the U.S.

“Some health care facilities in the U.S. lack sufficient supplies of face masks as COVID-19 cases surge across the country and manufacturers work overtime to ramp up production of personal protective equipment. Some of 3M's health care clients are using 20 times the amount of PPE they needed before the pandemic. 3M's monthly production of N95 respirators in the U.S. alone will have increased from 22 million in 2019 to 95 million by the end of 2020. Globally, by the end of 2020, the company will have produced 2 billion respirators.”

-         CBS NEWS

Source: UN Comtrade

Trade flow figures observed for HS 630790 and the use of HS8 and HS10 trade data measured shares to classify face masks. Since masks are now recommended for wider use by the general population and a growing number of countries require people to wear them in public places, China's figures above are likely to extend to other countries, with the result that demand for masks could be ten times higher in countries affected by the virus than before the crisis. It is necessary to continue to increase supply to satisfy this demand. Though China has increased its production considerably (by a factor of 10), other manufacturing economies are experiencing more modest increases.

“American companies sold more than $17.5 million worth of face masks, more than $13.6 million in surgical garments and more than $27.2 million in ventilators to China during the first two months of the year, far exceeding that of any other similar period in the past decade. The U.S. exported more than $1.7 million worth of surgical masks to China in January alone – more than double the previous January”

-         U.S. Census Bureau