The coronavirus pandemic brought China not only tremendous financial losses but also fat profits. Chinese companies have made tens of billions of dollars on face masks alone.
According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), local businesses earned an estimated $53.8 billion on face masks exports in the first year of the pandemic. In 2020, profits from personal protection equipment (PPE) exports spiked 3.8 times from 2019. Revenues from foreign sales amounted to $88.1 billion at the end of 2020 versus $22.9 billion in 2019. China’s top exports included surgical masks and respirators ($53.8 billion), face shields ($16.8 billion), protective garments ($10.8 billion), and gloves ($3.9 billion).
The pandemic boosted demand for Chinese PPE. The number of people willing to purchase gloves and face masks doubled and even surpassed industrial production growth rates. Amid the shortage of PPE at the beginning of the pandemic (April 2020), the export price of one surgical mask increased by 720.8% compared to December 2019. On top of that, export restrictions introduced by China’s government to meet the domestic market needs also contributed to the rise in prices.
The largest importers of China’s PPE in 2020 were the United States and the European Union. They purchased personal protective equipment worth $24.6 billion and $23.4 billion respectively. Meanwhile, Russia imported products in the amount of $2 billion in 2020 versus $0.57 billion in 2019.
