Central SOEs Increase Production for Medical Material Supply

Central SOEs are devoted to increasing production of scarce medical articles to support the battle against the novel coronavirus pneumonia and guarantee people's daily needs.

So far, more than 1,000 tons of ethanol, 340 tons of sodium hypochlorite and 5,000 bottles of 84 disinfectant as well as disposable medical protective fabric for about 10,000 surgical protection suits are produced per day by some subsidiaries of seven central SOEs – China North Industries Group Corporation Limited (NORINCO Group), China National Machinery Industry Corporation Ltd (Sinomach), Xinxing Cathay International Group Co., Ltd., China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group), China Oil & Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO), China General Technology (Genertec) and China National Chemical Corporation Ltd. (ChemChina).

By Feb 2, those central SOEs had produced 65,000 tons of medical raw materials of resin, 123.1 tons of filter material which is enough to make 160 million masks, 223.3 tons of fabric for 143 million masks and 180.7 tons of SMS for 1.2 million protection suits.

Increasing production of medical articles

An affiliated company of China North Chemical Research Academy Group Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of NORINCO Group, improved daily mask production capacity to 2.5 times the ordinary rate and developed three prototypes of whole-body protection suits to better protect front-line medical workers from the novel coronavirus.

Sinomach's subsidiary CHTC Jiahua Nonwoven Co., Ltd contributed to supply of high-end medical materials suitable for protection articles.

Subsidiaries of Xinxing Cathay International Group Co., Ltd. also made efforts in protection suit production. It is expected that 30,000 to 50,000 protection suits can be made by the end of February.

Promoting supply of scarce medical raw materials

The largest domestic medical material supplier, Sinopec Group has an annual output of nearly one million tons in that field.

During the outbreak of NCP, the company has pulled out all stops to produce medical polyolefin and increase raw material supply.

The company plans to supply another 95,000 tons of medical raw materials in February, 30,000 tons more than that in January.

The China Textile Academy, which is affiliated to Genertec, improved production output and promoted research on a new type of special reusable medical protection fabric.

HB Optical of Shenyang Academy of Instrumentation Science CO., LTD. (SAIS), a subsidiary of Sinomach, had received an order for 9,000 pieces of optical filter to detect the novel coronavirus to medical institutes and clinics in cities including Shanghai, Xi'an, Hangzhou and Shenzhen by the end of January.

A subsidiary of China South Industries Group Co.,Ltd (CSGC), CDGM has delivered 1,040 pieces of chalcogenide optical glass lens for production of infrared temperature measuring equipment.

Guaranteeing medical sterilizing products

Many central SOEs are paying more attention to sterilizing product supply since the outbreak of NCP.

To meet the need for medicinal alcohol, COFCO raised its daily production to 1,000 tons and will continue to increase it according to demand.

More than 1,600 tons of alcohol for disinfection had been supplied to Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Hainan, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Liaoning and Heilongjiang provinces, as well as the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Beijing by early February.

In response to demands for sanitizer, ChemChina increased its production of sodium hypochlorite and hydrogen peroxide, both of which are main ingredients of disinfectants, to more than 7,000 tons per month, a record for the past 82 years.

Subsidiaries of other central SOEs including NORINCO Group and Xinxing Cathay International Group Co., Ltd. also contributed to disinfectant materials supply.

More fabric for mask production is made to support the battle against the novel coronavirus. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

A new type of optical filter glass is under development for novel coronavirus detection equipment. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)