Antimonopoly Committee: Shortage of raw materials is preventing manufacturers of medical masks from working at full capacity

Due to the shortage of raw materials, manufacturers of medical masks in Uzbekistan are not working at full capacity, the press service of the Antimonopoly Committee reported. 

According to the committee, there are 89 manufacturers of face masks in the country, whose daily production capacity is 1.77 million units. 

“However, due to the absence of imported raw materials for the production of masks, individual enterprises are not working at full production capacity,” the press service said.

The wholesale price of masks produced in these industries, based on the raw materials used, was as follows (per piece): made from the “spandbon” material – 800-2,100 soums; gauze – 1,000-1,500 soums; knitted - 1500-1700 soums.

Earlier in March, the “Uztuqimachiliksanoat” Association announced that enterprises producing medical masks are ready to increase their production to 2 million pieces per day. 

According to the Association, the total production capacities of the enterprises under monitoring at the beginning of March exceeded 500 thousand masks per day with the possibility of an immediate increase of more than 1 million pieces per day and then 2 million and more.