BEIJING — China's centrally administered State-owned enterprises (SOEs) have quickened their pace in producing melt-blown nonwoven fabric, a key material for masks, amid efforts to stem the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the top state assets regulator said.

As the 20 new production lines built by PetroChina, Sinopec and other central SOEs reach full capacity in April, daily melt-blown nonwoven fabric output of Chinese central SOEs is expected to top 70 metric tons, according to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council.

To secure sufficient market supply of melt-blown nonwoven fabric, the filtering layer in the middle part of a mask, the SASAC has taken vigorous measures to boost central SOEs' production capacity.

CHTC Jiahua Nonwoven Co Ltd, the country's leading nonwoven roll producer, saw its daily output reach 30 tons after the company shifted its production lines to make melt-blown nonwoven fabric.

At present, supply of the material from Chinese central SOEs amounted to 42.5 tons every day, doubling in just half a month. Data showed that central SOEs have so far produced over 1,500 tons of melt-blown nonwoven fabric in total, which is enough to make 1.5 billion masks.