How to Buy Wholesale Face Masks From Chinese Manufacturers Safely
The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 199 countries and territories around the world, until March 29, 2020, there are 664,590 confirmed coronavirus cases globally and still in an upward trend.
In this article, we going to share how to buy and import face masks from China safely and sucessfully.
In fact, these are also the practical tips we follow as a sourcing agent to help with oversea buyers.
Let’s fight against coronavirus!
Chapter 1 – Why buy and import face masks from China
Although most health-case medical suppliles are made in China, but for almost two months (Jan. – Feb. 2020), protective face masks were either not being manufacuturers in China because of the national quarantine or not being exported because China was in a shortage of personal protection equipment for coronavirus.
However since early March, Chinese manufacturering begins recovery from covid-19, and U.S. had excluded Chinese face masks from tariffs as coronavirus spreads.
During the fight with COVID-19, Chinese goverment had been monitoring qualified manufacturers’ production capacity, to protect citizens from overpriced face masks. And now this policy also helps to keep a quality standard when the world is in need of medical supplies.
Chapter 2 What types of face masks you can buy from China
N95 respirator
An N95 respirator is a NIOSH standard personal protective equipment (PPE) designed to provide decent facial fit and effective airborne particle filtration.
The classification ‘N95’ indicates that the respirator blocks at least 95 per cent of very small (0.3 micron) test particles when subjected to rigorous examination. N95 mask get its name for filtering at least 95% of airborne particles when properly fitted on face.
KN95 mask
Similar to N95 in USA Niosh standard, KN95 is its counter part under Chinese GB2626 standard.
You can simply consider N95=KN95 on its filtering capability.
FFP2 mask
Europe also has its own standard (EN149: 2001) regulating protectvie face masks. FFP2 masks have a minimum filtration rate of 94 per cent and a maximum leakage rate of 8 per cent. These are primarily used against influenza viruses by manufacturing, agriculture, and health-care professionals. They are currently being utilized as anti-coronavirus supplies.
FFP3 mask
FFP3 masks are the most filtering mask in the FFPs. With a minimum filtration level of 99 per cent and a gross leakage of 2 per cent to the ground, they defend against very small particles such as asbestos.
surgical mask
Surgical masks are used inside the operating room or in other sterile areas of the procedure to protect the patient’s environment from contamination.
According to ASTM standard (USA), a minimum filtration rate of 95% is required to be considered a medical / surgical mask. Higher protection masks will have a bacterial filtration capacity of more than 98%.
Medical mask
In China, medical mask is regulated under YY/T0969, which means it has a performance standard to be qualified as medical mask, it’s a type of protective mask which isdifferent than surgical mask (YY 0469).
But in other parts of the world like US and EU, medical mask is refering to a broader concept usually means the whole medical use face masks category, however it also has a minimum performance requirement.
3 ply face mask
- ply mask is made of three layers of different materials, and each layer has its dedicated function to make a mask as a protective device.
The outer layer is a hydrophobic layer that can repel water, blood and body fluids, the middle filter layer is built to trap bacteria and is considered to be the most significant layer that also filters out water droplets and, eventually, the inner hydrophilic layer that can absorb water, sweat and spit.
The middle melt-blown material layer includes high-level static filtration to effectively block micro dust and bacteria.
A 3-ply mask can be surgical mask, medical mask or non-medical mask.
Chapter 3 – How to find a good face mask manufacturer in China
It’s not easy to find a real and reliable manufacturer in China, and even more difficult to find a manufacuturer for anti-coronavirus face mask. With the demand of protective face mask increasing, lots of businesses had started selling masks no matter what they were selling previously.
However, the truth is, a real mask factory will never promote their products online actively in 2020.
Why? Because they don’t need to.
According to face mask manufacturers’ feedback to HUACI Sourcing medical supplies team, most of majoy qualified manufacturers had already recieved enough orders to keep their production lines running until 2021.
Talk to HUACI Sourcing
N95 mask manufacturers
Do you know not all N95 mask factories have FDA? And more specifically, not all N95 masks imported to the United State have to be FDA approved.
If you’re a buyer who is looking for a manufacturer of N95 respirator in China and imported to USA, the first thing you should decide is, where will this N95 masks be used for?
Manufacturers will need a clearance letter from FDA by submitting premarket notification, also known as a 510(k). If the use of N95 mask requires FDA clearance from customs.
N95 mask manufacturers without FDA
Masks that do not claim to prevent infection or have antiviral or antimicrobial properties do not need FDA clearance, but they still must be NIOSH-approved. If this is how you plan and market your N95 face mask, your manufacturers only need Niosh certificate instead of FDA clearance.
Manufacturers of masks that do not require FDA clearance need only to register their establishment with FDA and list their products.
surgical mask manufacturers
Not all of the mask manufacturers can produce surgical face mask technically or legally.
You will be able to verify if a face mask manufacturers have the qualification to produce surgical mask by its business scope in business liscense.
medical mask manufacturers
There are 2 types medical mask availabe for sale, sterile or non-sterile.
Sterilized and non-sterilized medical masks are also made in the dust free workshop of 100,000 class. Other indicators, such as filtration efficiency or airflow resistance, are also required. The difference lies in whether the manufacturer has the final sterilization process of finished products.
3 ply mask manufacturers
Although face mask production is not rocket science, but not all the 3 ply mask manufacturers in China perform the same.
Due to the negative influence in bussiness caused by CoronaVirus, many Chinese manufacuters had change their line of production from other products like clothing into 3 ply masks. However as you can imagine, these are totally different types of products, which involve completely different workmanship expenrience. How can they make sure their face masks are qualified in protecting people from virus?
You’d be better to know more about your suppliers instead of just focusing on the mask prices.
Chapter 4 Wholesale price guide for different face masks
With the worldwide huge demand of personal protective equipments, the face mask raw material cost like melt blown non-woven fabric and elastic string had been increasing significantly.
When you are going to purchase wholesale masks from China, it’s wise to follow a reasonable price range so you don’t get rip off. A reasonable price range not only tell you when you’re paying too much, but also help you stay away from price too good to be true.
n95 mask wholesale
Wholesale n95 mask checklist:
Niosh certified or not?
FDA approved or not?
Who is the Niosh/FDA certifying body?
In stock or not?
N95 mask wholesale from China price range: 0.98 – 2.97 USD
medical face mask wholesale
Wholesale medical mask checklist:
Business scope includes surgical mask production and sales or not?
With medical device production license or not?
With medical device registration certificate or not?
With the national standard or industry standard test report or not?
sterile or non-sterile?
With CE certificate or not?
FDA approved or not?
Who is the CE/FDA certifying body?
medical face mask wholesale from China price range: 0.24 – 0.57 USD
surgical mask wholesale
Wholesale surgical mask checklist:
Business scope includes surgical mask production and sales or not?
With medical device production license or not?
With medical device registration certificate or not?
With national standard or industry standard test report or not?
With CE certificate or not?
FDA approved or not?
Who is the CE/FDA certifying body?
surgical face mask wholesale from China price range: 0.43 – 0.89 USD
Chapter 5 Best practices to buy and import wholesale face masks from China
Never overstate your order quantity in your face mask inquiry
Find a face mask sourcing agent in China to be your eyes and ears
Never overstate your order quantity in your face mask inquiry
Many buyers tend to give their mask suppliers a huge quantity to get the best quotation. For example, 5 millions of N95 respirators. In most of the situation, it’s a non-firm inquiry with unrealistic quantity.
On the other hand, try to give your order quantity as accurate as possible to your suppliers, and explain more about your plan to them. You might be able to build trust during such special circumstances and get a great offer.
Here are more tips about buying from Chinese manufacturers.
Find a face mask sourcing agent in China to be your eyes and ears
China had announced at Mar. 30, 2020 that it would temporarily closes its borders to foreign travelers in effort to stop spreads of coronavirus.
When we talk about this in perspective of mask supply chain, it means all buyers will not be able to visit their face mask manufacturers before placing the orders.
It could be very risky when you don’t know who’s behind the emails, and more importantly, will you get what you paid for?
A sourcing company on the ground will help you to find suitable mask factories and negotiate with them. And inspect your mask order before shipping to you.
Chapter 6 Problems and Risks when buying face masks from China
- Face mask supplier scam
- Unqualified mask suppliers
- Language barrier
- Can not get a good price
- Fake product certificate
- Defective products
- Wrong mask standard for your country
- Long shipping time
- Shipment stuck in customs
Chapter 7 Shipping face mask from China
According to Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), wearing a mask is one of the major solutions to stop the spread of coronavirus. There are many options to ship face mask from China, but considering current critical situation. The best way to ship medical supplies or personal protective equipment is air freight and express delivery.
Let us know where is your delivery address and we will do the rest.