Vietnam exported 415.7 million face masks between Jan. 1 and April 19 this year, Vietnam News has reported, worth a total over 63 million U.S. dollars.
Between April 1 and 19 alone, over 88 million masks were exported including over 51 million as gifts or donations, the General Department of Customs reported
The biggest importer was Japan (32.7 million), followed by South Korea (17.1 million), Germany (11.1 million) and the United States (10.4 million). Two Hanoi schoolchildren even donated 20,000 masks to the U.K.
The Ministry of Health said that in Vietnam there were 68 companies making medical face masks and protective clothing, including TNG Investment and Trading Joint Stock Company.
The Deputy Director of the Trade Ministry’s Import-Export Department
Tran Thanh Hai said that face mask producers must fulfil all quality assurance and safety requirement to ensure that masks made in the country could obtain the right safety requirements and they could meet the appropriate global standards.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said last month that that the export of such masks would only be approved if domestic demand was met first, including a full number of reserve masks.
