“China’s mask production goes from boom to bust leaving workers out of a job”, 6 July 2020

On 17 June, the Shengguang Group mask factory in Pingdingshan, Henan, suddenly closed, leaving workers stranded. Five days later, another Shengguang factory in nearby Xinyang also closed down, and the boss disappeared. Employees at both factories staged protests demanding payment of their wages in arrears…

Such was the demand for face masks in China during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic that the daily production of N95 masks increased from 130,000 in early February to 5.86 million at the end of April, and non-N95 mask production shot up from five million a day to 200 million. More than 76,000 new mask factories were registered in the first half of 2020.

As the pandemic subsided, however, China suddenly had excess production capacity. The unit price of masks plummeted and factories were saddled with large inventories. Moreover, many hastily retooled production lines produced substandard masks that were subsequently returned to the manufacturer…

The number of daily shifts increased from just one to four, and workers said that managers at the Pingdingshan factory recruited contractors who brought in their own mask machines to set up production in an old warehouse. Not only did this produce poor quality masks, but also it meant that work safety standards were severely compromised.

Salaries at the Shengguang Group's factories in Henan were also very low… But workers producing disposable masks did not even have a basic salary and were paid by piece rate alone…