How is the “mask capital” in Bac Ninh now after the COVID-19 epidemic?
From a famous traditional bamboo-making village, many households in Xuan Lai (Xuan Lai commune, Gia Binh district, Bac Ninh province) are now getting better thanks to the production of masks and medical protective gear. According to local people, at the beginning of 2020 when the Covid-19 epidemic broke out, it was extremely difficult to access and buy masks in the largest mask production “capital” in the North.
Masks that used to be sold “as cheap as giving” suddenly increased 50 times, the cash piled up from the top of the village was also difficult to buy.
Returning to Xuan Lai village in the last days of May, the road leading to the village is now much clearer than it was 2 years ago. When it was considered the “peak”, the “mountain” of cloth masks were suddenly “scraped” clean.
Xuan Lai village (Xuan Lai commune, Gia Binh district, Bac Ninh province) is associated with the name “capital” of mask production.
At the time of the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic, mask factories in Xuan Lai village were operating at full capacity. A beverage vendor at the top of the village said that two years ago, this woman’s restaurant never ran out of customers. Big cars, small cars going into the village waiting to buy masks lined up day and night.
“Before the epidemic, in the village, there were only about 10 households producing masks, but that day could not be sold, even sold “as cheap as giving”, very sluggish. A box of masks is selling 700,000 VND, sometimes selling for only 500,000 VND.
However, when the Covid-19 epidemic appeared, there was a time when the price of masks was up to 25 million VND/barrel (50 times higher).“, Ms. H. said.
2 years after the outbreak, the largest mask capital in the North no longer had large cars and small cars going into the village to wait to buy masks.
According to Ms. H., the time when the epidemic broke out was also the time when trading activities in Xuan Lai village were unprecedented. As a local, Ms. H. could not afford any boxes of masks.
“At that time, even people who do not know how to trade can make a lot of money. Only carrying 1.2 boxes of masks to the beginning of the village can earn a few million to several tens of millions, but “bearable”, even family members cannot buy them.
I remember at that time, a nephew in the district ordered 2 boxes of masks from a mask factory in the village and asked me to take them to the beginning of the village. 2 boxes of masks bought for 11 million dong a box, but when I brought them to the beginning of the village, someone was willing to pay 17 million / barrel.
I don’t have to do anything just buy it and drive it to the top of the village, I’ve already earned so much money, but I can’t buy it. Everywhere they go, they take all the goods, but they don’t have the goods in their turn“, Ms. H. said.
From a famous traditional bamboo-making village, many households in Xuan Lai (Gia Binh) are now getting better thanks to the production of protective and medical masks.
According to Ms. H., during the “fever” of goods, the price of masks reached the peak of 25 million VND/barrel. Many retailers come to the factories to queue from 5-6 am to wait to buy. By 8 am, the warehouse was “burned out”.
“At that time, many villagers of Xuan Lai village got rich overnight. I sell water here to witness, the customers buying masks to go to the car with cash are piled up on the table. Now that you come here, the road is clear, but when the road is busy with traffic, there are many people walking in and out of the village.“, said Mrs. H.
Going deep into the village, Ms. LA (owner of a mask production facility) recalls that at the peak of business, her and her husband’s factory operated at full capacity day and night. Even, according to the owner of this establishment, when the factory was finished, the machine was imported, and it was always impossible to start production in time to establish a company.
Contrary to the scene at the peak of business, households are always full of high-walled gates, operating at full capacity, now the production, trading of masks here has become bleak.
“Before the translation, my brother also planned to open a factory, but at that time, his grandparents forced him to get married to invest money to buy machinery. The couple just got married, when the Covid-19 epidemic hit, they decided to buy a machine to work.
When the machine arrived at the factory, my husband and I rushed to work and could not establish a company. Some time after the goods leveled off, it was time to open a company, inspect and register for ISO“, Ms. LA said.
According to Ms. LA, at the peak time, the factory’s monthly revenue is up to 8 billion VND. Minus the money for importing fabrics, labor… each month, Ms. A’s husband and wife earn about 1 billion VND. Money came rushing in, so she had to put it in a new sack.
“At that time, all the workshops in the village were dealing in cash because the amount was too large. Those who have cash, we will sell“, Ms. LA added.
At the end of the epidemic, the machines were “covered with mats”, and had to be sold out to remove capital
According to Ms. LA, at the moment, due to a sharp decrease in market demand, especially in the domestic market, production and business are also quiet. Right in the mask village, many business households have stopped selling goods for more than a month now due to sluggishness. Even some households have sold machines, fabrics, raw materials… to change jobs due to lack of output.
Because the market demand has dropped sharply, especially the domestic market, production and business has also been quiet.
“The current price of masks is only 700,000-1,000,000 VND/barrel, making customers no longer “salty”. Regular customers in the country are now also sporadic, who make a few appointments. Just finished, I took out 2 boxes for my regular customers, but I didn’t have time to do it before.
Even that day, the customers who came to the house to wait for the goods were not there. Some people put masks in the box themselves, they can take as much as they can because the factory has no workers. Before the day was counting a lot of money, now sporadic customers feel “no money“Lady laughs.
In the mask village, many business households have stopped selling goods for more than a month now due to sluggishness.
Going deep into Xuan Lai village at this time to ask to buy a mask making machine, just go along the way and ask, you will be directed to a series of households that want to sell. According to people in the village, the current mask market is saturated, making the price of a new mask-making machine currently only range from 500-800 million VND.
“In 2020, many families see that the production of masks makes a lot of money, so they spend 3-4 billion VND to buy the machine, but now the masks cannot be sold, they have to sell and liquidate the machine for 150-200 million VND. There are people who have been selling for a long time, but there are no buyers.
Some homes bought new machines and returned to their warehouses without removing the stamps because there was no output“, Ms. LA said.
Spending billions of dong to buy a mask making machine, now many households in the mask capital are looking for ways to sell off to recover capital.
Hang’s family (Xuan Lai village) since the face mask market has been gloomy, they also want to sell the device. Seeing the “fever” mask market, the couple decided to spend some money together with friends to buy a machine for production. However, since the 2020 epidemic, Ms. Hang has not recovered the capital she has invested since the epidemic.
“My family has been making bamboo and rattan as the main occupation for more than 20 years. In the past, seeing the development of mask production, the couple decided to buy the machine together with their friends. On that day, it was also calculated that masks sold well at such a high price, so it would not take long for the couple to get their capital back, so the couple decided to invest.
Now the market is gloomy so it is not interested anymore. The family also has a traditional job, so now they want to sell the machine to get back the capital. Machines are now depreciated, my wife and I have another loss“Hang said.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: cafebiz.vn – Read the original article here
