(Yicai Global) May 11 -- China Petroleum & Chemical, the state-owned energy giant better known as Sinopec, has opened 16 melt-blown fabric production lines it set up to make materials involved in mask production.

Subsidiary Sinopec Yizheng Chemical Fiber opened the last of the 16 lines at a purpose-built production base on May 9, China Petrochemical News reported today. Sinopec can now produce 13,500 tons of melt-blown fabric a year, enough to produce 13.5 billion medical face masks.

Supplies for melt-blown fabric have been tight since the Covid-19 pandemic began months ago, and prices have surged to over CNY700,000 a ton (USD99,000) from CNY18,000 (USD2,500) and crimped mask production.

Sinopec Yizheng and another unit, Sinopec Yanshan Petrochemical, built the production lines as quickly as possible to replenish supplies. It took the two companies just 76 days to build the world’s largest production base for the fabric, though Sinopec has not disclosed how much it spent on the facility.

Editor: James Boynton