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Domestic Economy

Mask Production Factories Working at Full Capacity

In the wake of the rising cases of coronavirus infection in Iran and fears of shortage of face masks, an official with the Consumer and Producer Protection Organization said factories are working at full capacity to meet demand. 

Esmaeil Mehdipour added that his organization will take legal action against hoarders and those who sell masks at inflated prices. 

Mohammad Reza Shanesaz, the head of Food and Drug Administration of Iran, also announced a plan to distribute face masks free of charge and ban their sales in pharmacies. 

Shanesaz says pharmacies will be barred from ordering new batches of masks and they will only be allowed to sell what they already have in stock.

“The price set for three-layer mask is 4,100 rials [about 2 cents] and all pharmacies and distribution centers are required to sell their products at the set price,” Mehdipour was quoted as saying by Fars News Agency. 

Prior to the current emergence of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Iran, the country had never faced shortage of face masks. 

On Feb. 20, Seyyed Hossein Safavi, the director of Health Ministry’s Medical Equipment and Supplies Department, said, “There are 15 producers of masks in the country, supplying 1.5 million units daily. However, demand for face masks has increased twofold at present, because of which the Health Ministry has banned mask exports.”

The Market Regulation Headquarters agreed to the Health Ministry’s request for banning the export of cotton face masks on Feb. 3.

 

The head of Food and Drug Administration of Iran has spoken of a plan to distribute face masks free of charge and ban their sales in pharmacies

 

“The committee responsible for levying export tariffs affiliated with the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran will soon take measures in this respect,” Mohammad Reza Kalami, the spokesman of the headquarters, was quoted as saying by IRNA.

Feysal Mardasi, an advisor to the Iranian Association for Hygienic Cellulose Industry, said that due to the outbreak of coronavirus in China, Chinese traders were buying face masks from Iran, pre-purchasing almost all the country’s output.

“In view of rising domestic demand for face masks, exports of the product have to be banned so that the local market remains balanced,” the official was quoted as saying by ILNA.

An acute shortage of face masks in Asia caused by the fear of the spreading coronavirus has found its way west, with online retailers, manufacturers and pharmacies in the US and UK selling out of the products, according to Financial Times.

Manufacturers are increasing production to meet surging demand, as individuals and companies scramble to stock up on protective equipment.

“Raw materials to make mask are all produced in Iran,” Keyvan Gardan, an official with the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade, said.

“Producers operating at 20-30% of their capacity have now boosted their output. Health and industries ministries are doing their utmost to resolve problems associated with mask production. Since 10 years ago, the country has become self-sufficient in producing face masks.”

“Iran confirmed 15 new cases of the new coronavirus,” Health Ministry Spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said on state TV on Sunday, adding that the death toll has reached eight in the country.

“So far, we have 43 infected cases and the death toll is eight,” said Kianoush Jahanpur.

The World Health Organization on Saturday stressed that the number of cases outside China was still relatively low, but it was worried by the detection of infections without a clear link to China.

The disease has spread to some 26 countries and territories outside China, killing more than a dozen people, according to a Reuters tally. 

It has been fatal in 2% of reported cases, with the elderly and ill the most vulnerable, according to WHO.

The potential economic impact of coronavirus was prominent at a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at which the International Monetary Fund chief, Kristalina Georgieva, said China’s 2020 growth would likely be lower at 5.6%, down 0.4 percentage points from its January outlook, with 0.1 percentage points shaved from global growth.

In China, the health commission confirmed 648 new infections—higher than a day earlier—but only 18 were outside of Hubei Province, the lowest number outside of the epicenter since authorities started publishing data a month ago and locked down large parts of the country.