AfricaPress-Tanzania: AS supplies of face masks become scarce across the world, local manufactures in Tanzania are facing shortages of key raw materials and equipment to assist them to meet demand.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday Pristine Manufacturing Company Limited (PMCL), Director, Mr Alnoor Lakha said as the global demand for masks soars it has become a challenge to get raw materials.
“We request for government facilitation to ease access of raw materials from China and India, the good thing is both countries representatives are in Tanzania,” he noted.
He added “The price for raw materials is spiking in the world previously we used to buy it for 4 US dollar per kilogram but currently the price has soared to 60 US dollars per kilogram,”
Mr Lakha who was briefing the Industries and Trade Minister, Innocent Bashungwa who toured the industry said PMCL commenced operations eight weeks ago a tough time in the world as the countries battles against the pandemic Covid-19 thus becoming difficult to achieve their goal.
He said the factory daily capacity is 25,000–30,000 pieces but once they get sufficient raw materials and assured of stable power supply the production will be 45,000 pieces maximum capacity.
On equipment he said across the globe industries transfer their skills to make items that can help protect healthcare workers and the general public against Covid-19 but they fail to supplement the effort as the machines they ordered to assist them on production are still stuck in India.
According to him, the factory operates in both modes that are production and teaching local staff the production process in which they have one foreign expert and 16 Tanzanians trainees.
Responding to their concerns, Mr Bashungwa assured them that he will request a meeting with the Chinese and Indian Ambassadors to Tanzania to see how they can assist local manufacturers to acquire raw material from their countries.
“We aim to empower local industries to produce as many face masks as possible, I hope to talk with the ambassadors as soon as possible,” he said.
However, he did not tell the exact demand of face masks in the country, on pricing he said, facial masks are sold at 2,000/-but PMCL sells a 50 pcs box at 15,000/- which he termed as cheaper compared to the imported ones.
Demand for face masks and other vital medical supplies have raised their price on the market globally.
China is the world’s largest producer of them, with a reported daily capacity of 20 million pieces, but by the estimate of its manufacturer’s domestic demand alone is around 50 to 60 million per day.
Tanzania Medicines and Medical Devices Authority (TMDA), Acting Director Medical Products control, Mr Akida Khea said a quality face mask must have been made of durable fabric and under hygiene conditions.
“From the start of the pandemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said there was no need for people who are well to wear a mask instead they should be worn by those who are sick, and medical and health care workers but this week they have said they certainly see circumstances on which the use of masks, both home-made and cloth masks, at the community level may help with an overall comprehensive response to this disease,” he noted
Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS), Director General, Dr Ngenya Yusuf said they have inspected the factory and was satisfied with the quality of masks produced as they meet the set standard.
