China exported more than 70 billion masks in 3 months

Recently, we talked about China’s quickly ramped up mask production capacity in response to the covid-19 pandemic, as well as the whitelisting of manufacturers for export after quality backlashes. We also revealed the different scams in the global scramble for medical and protective supplies.

In April, the customs announced that it had blocked 33 million pieces of unlicensed medical supplies.

The question a few of you asked us was: so how much was china actually exporting?

Today, the State Council (i.e. the cabinet) Information Office released a white paper named “Fighting Covi-19: China in Action“, which gave the official numbers:

(Btw, we are never a big fan of the phrase ‘in action” because it just sounds too similar to “inaction”)

“From March 1 to May 31, China exported protective materials to 200 countries and regions, among which there were more than 70.6 billion masks, 340 million protective suits, 115 million pairs of goggles, 96,700 ventilators, 225 million test kits, and 40.29 million infrared thermometers. “

Massive.