BEIJING — China's centrally administered State-owned enterprises (SOEs) have been accelerating work in the production of meltblown non-woven fabric, a key material in making masks, to aid the anti-epidemic fight, the top state assets regulator said on March 8. 

As of March 6, the central SOEs' daily production capacity of meltblown non-woven fabric, the filtering layer in the middle part of a mask, had reached 26 metric tons, according to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).

Output of the material is expected to grow significantly in the coming week as new production lines are put into operation, said an official with the commission.

As China's largest supplier of medical raw materials, Sinopec has decided to set up a total of 10 meltblown non-woven fabric production lines to fill the demand gap.

Upon completion, the new production lines will be able to produce 18 tons of the fabric every day, enough to make 18 million masks.

Meanwhile, CHTC Jiahua Nonwoven Co, owned by the textile giant China Hi-Tech Group Corporation, started to produce the fabric in late February, with the total output reaching 609 tons by March 6. 

The SASAC and central SOEs will continue to beef up the supply of medical materials, the official said.