PETALING JAYA: Sales of face masks are expected to decline following the mandate issued by the Health Ministry (MOH) two weeks ago that their use indoors is now optional, but manufacturers are confident that the personal protective wear will remain essential in people’s daily lives.

Komarkcorp Bhd executive director Roy Ho Yew Kee said the group has experienced contraction in sales of face masks for six months now and the decline began immediately after the government lifted the mandate for masking outdoors earlier in the year.

“Sales are expected to decline further but will eventually plateau, as they did earlier this year, once the initial price dumping by panicky inventory hoarders tapers,” he told SunBiz.

Ho said face masks currently account for roughly 50% of Komarkcorp’s business. The contribution will decline unless it is able to mobilise and re-engineer its mask machines to produce different types of masks that will remain in demand, regardless whether Covid-19 persists or not. Air filtration masks for the haze season, excessive pollution as well as hospital grade surgical masks remain in demand.

Komarkcorp, via its subsidiary Komark Mask (M) Sdn Bhd, produces face masks under the brand Komark Mask. The group, which is primarily involved in the manufacturing of self-adhesive labels, stickers, automatic labelling machinery and the trading of related products, had in June 2020 diversified its business and ventured into the manufacturing and sale of medical grade disposable face masks as well as original equipment manufacturing face masks.

Ho said its face mask product prices will reflect the quality of its masks and that they are fully made in Malaysia. To compete pricing against “Chinese parallel import hoarders” is not a sustainable strategy and he believes that rather than competing with the latter, the group will look for new markets and higher margin business.

Ho remains confident that demand for face masks will be constant, but noted that it will dramatically lessen. However, the empirical proof is there that masking helps keep out other viruses and bacteria, and some parts of society will still use them daily.

He believes consumers will still buy face masks regardless of it being optional and pointed out that a week has passed since the announcement and yet nine out of 10 people are still masked indoors as well as outdoors.

“We have had a tough time competing with Chinese imports passing off as medical grade masks when we have our own locally made masks being deemed too expensive. Komark masks are already Sirim-certified,” Ho said.

Meanwhile, Jovian Mandagie Group Sdn Bhd founder Datuk Jovian Mandagie observed that 90% of the public are still wearing face masks indoors and even outdoors despite the optional-use ruling.

“For us, the market for face mask still shows a promising trend in sales and our customers still continue to buy our face masks due to their quality and design. We believe this will last at least for the next six months to one year,” he shared with SunBiz.

Jovian said that during the peak of the pandemic, its face mask products were the bread and butter of the business where they contributed about 80% of its monthly sales, which has helped its business grow rapidly to where it is now.

The company does not see the recent indoor face mask mandate as an issue as it takes it as a challenge to strategise on how to sustain the same business performance for all of its other products. He added that while its core business is in apparels and fashion accessories, selling face masks has opened up a new demographic for the brand.

The company has introduced new prices for some of its mask categories, such as the KN95, as well as conducting promotions for other types of masks, such as 3-Ply and KF94, where customers can purchase in combo prices.

Jovian opined that the face mask market will remain as it has always been there. However, the scale will be way smaller in the coming years as Malaysia transitions into the endemic phase of Covid-19. It may not be something that the public look as their day-to-day ensemble as much as it is now. However, it will take some adjustments and time for the market to actually subside.

Jovian believes consumers will continue to purchase face masks regardless of optionality because, through his observation, most people wear face masks when they go out. He opined that it will take some time for the situation to return to where it was before the pandemic erupted.

“We are still in a process of getting Sirim certification as we will continue to sell our medically grade mask across all of our channels for those who still wish to buy and wear it. It’s a product that we will continually produce for as long as the demand is still there,” he added.

Separately, UTLT Solutions Sdn Bhd, which produces the AiruFlo face masks, said to date, the company is still seeing healthy and steady growth in its face mask sales since the announcement.

AiruFlo face masks, which are reusable, provide an alternative choice compared with the conventional single-use face masks. Hence, it does not see any major negative impact towards its business and it is in a different league to compete with the conventional face masks manufacturers.

AiruFlo’s sales have definitely been impacted by the lifting of the mask mandate but it is hoping to continue selling long term, since its product is not a disposable item and the use of a mask is not limited to only the pandemic. It is anticipating positive growth in the future.

At present, it is still reviewing plans but its research and development (R&D) of the latest version of the mask is ongoing. Its face masks are fully certified by MOH as well as the US Food and Drug Administration.

“For reusable masks, this might be a good time for us since demand for disposables reduces, so it leaves us to be more visible to consumers who are thinking about the environmental impact of disposables. The general public has adapted to putting on a face mask, and we are looking forward to our expansion into the medical sector. The announcement from MOH has not changed our course of direction,” an AiruFlo representative said.

The company is not likely to lower its product prices as its material and R&D costs are considerable.

Despite the current increase in material costs around the world in the last year, the company has not increased its face mask prices and has chosen to absorb the costs instead. It believes that its consumers are paying for a product worth its value.

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