India's Covid-19 Outbreaks Spur Crazy Demand for Chinese Oxygen Concentrators
Gu Ying
DATE:  May 19 2021
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
India's Covid-19 Outbreaks Spur Crazy Demand for Chinese Oxygen Concentrators India's Covid-19 Outbreaks Spur Crazy Demand for Chinese Oxygen Concentrators

(Yicai Global) May 19 -- The demand for Chinese oxygen concentrators has skyrocketed amid the resurgence of Covid-19 outbreaks, particularly in India, according to industry insiders.

One producer at the China International Medical Equipment Fair, held last week, said that it has sent more than 5,000 oxygen concentrators to India and all the machines it can make by July have already been booked.

The demand has taken some producers by surprise. Yuyue Medical Equipment, a major Chinese medical device maker, didn't even bring a certain type of oxygen concentrator to the expo, citing an overwhelming demand. Some component makers have changed their focus to these products while manufacturers shift domestic stock abroad, Yicai Global learned.

Destinations: Homes in India

One of the reasons is India's sudden increase in Covid-19 cases in April. Oxygen concentrators are not as much needed in North America and Europe as hospitals prefer ventilators whereas in India, patients try to remain home while taking care of their health, which is driving up the demand there, said Qin Hao, a respiratory therapist at Shanghai’s Changhai Hospital.

The machines that can be used to ease breathing are also some of the bestselling items on Chinese e-commerce platforms for medical devices. On Drugdu.Com, a cross-border medical trading platform, pricing inquiries of oxygen concentrators have jumped nearly five times since April from a month earlier, and most of the potential buyers are from India, Nepal, and Zambia.

Another firm confirmed the main destination. Hospitals and merchants are increasingly interested in the prices of Chinese oxygen concentrators, and most of them are located in India, said an employee at another medical equipment trading platform.

The booming sales are already showing. Yuyue Medical Equipment’s sales of respiratory devices and oxygen generators jumped by 86 percent in 2020 from a year ago, according to its earnings report.

Editor: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi

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Keywords:   Oxygen Generator,Supply and Demand,COVID-19,Pandemic,India,Oxygen Concentrator,Medican Equipment