Up to 500m masks produced with government subsidies, says commerce chief

Up to 500 million masks have been produced with government subsidies, Hong Kong’s commerce chief Edward Yau Tang-wah said.

The SAR government launched the Local Mask Production Subsidy Scheme in March last year, providing subsidies to manufacturers for producing masks locally in order to meet the needs of the government and society amid the Covid pandemic.

According to the Scheme, the first two million masks produced each month by each subsidized production line must be sold to the government for a period of one year, while the manufacturers concerned may sell the remaining masks in the local market.

There are a total of 20 production lines under the Scheme, which is administered by the Hong Kong Productivity Council.

The estimated expenditure for the Scheme is HK$1.1 billion, of which HK$5.36 million is allocated to the Council to manage the Scheme and serve as the secretariat, amounting to less than 0.5 percent of the estimated expenditure.

In February last year, there is increasing anxiety in Hong Kong over the Covid outbreak, as citizens scramble to stock up masks and other household necessities. The mask boom has also prompted sellers to jack up prices and exploit demand.

The Scheme was launched under a global shortage of masks at that time, with a view to stabilize supply and to build up stock.

However, to this day, there is already an abundant supply of masks in the market.