Face mask factories in Vietnam: keep up with demand

By donating hundreds of thousands of face masks to its Southeast Asian neighbours and European countries as well as selling protective equipment to the US, Vietnam has earned the gratitude and trust of world leaders. 40 Vietnamese face mask factories are now producing masks. And they claims it has additional capacity if required. Vietnam already full of face mask factories, which led an early phase of industrialization.

This country is now an export manufacturing giant seen as an alternative to China. As of 2017, about 2.5 million Vietnamese  were working in 6,000 textile and garment manufacturing companies. With the nation about to sign a free trade agreement with the EU, face mask diplomacy could further boost Vietnam’s economy standing in the region.

However, Vietnamese face mask factories have to satisfy CE and FDA standards when exporting this products. In the first months of the year, the textile and garment industry suffered from the lack of input materials. This because Chinese partners were busy struggling with the epidemic in their country. Later, it faced a sharp fall in demand from import countries as the epidemic began devastating Europe and US. Only face mask and PPE producers can earn money at this moment. 

Focus on quality

The government of Vietnam gave considerable support by loosening export conditions. Thus helping face mask factories get customs clearance quickly. However, face mask factories have been warned that it would not be easy in the time to come to export masks. Because when the governments can step by step control the epidemic.  The EU and US will tighten requirements on the quality of face masks. The products to the EU would need to satisfy CE standards and products to the US will have to meet FDA standards. Therefore, face mask factories in Vietnam really needs to focus on quality to compete with other countries.

Compete with other countries

They have also been warned that Vietnam would have to compete with other countries in the region. They also have strength in the textile and garment industry such as China and Indonesia. Neither Taiwan nor Vietnam can compete with face mask factories China in terms of manufacturing capacity. Face mask factories in China export numbers are in the billions. And it has now donated equipment to more than 100 countries. However, quantity does not trump quality. China suffered embarrassment as frustrated EU vendors sent back hundreds of thousands of faulty items. Countries must do everything they can to get hold of or produce as much medical equipment as possible. While imports are one option, plenty have converted factories or built new plants to assist the effort.

While Vietnam face mask factories’s primary objective is to save as many lives as it can, it is not missing the chance to boost its influence in spheres where China has, until now, held sway.