The global medical mask market size stood at USD 2.15 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 4.11 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 8.5% during the forecast period.
Acute respiratory diseases such as pneumonia, whooping cough, influenza, and coronavirus (CoVID-19) are hugely contagious. These are often spread through mucus or saliva when a person coughs or sneezes. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every year, 5-10% of the population in the world is affected by respiratory tract infections lead by influenza, which causes severe illness in about 3-5 million people. Transmission of the respiratory diseases can be reduced by taking appropriate precautions such as wearing PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), maintaining hand hygiene, and following preventive measures, especially during a pandemic or epidemic. PPE includes medical clothing such as gowns, drapes, gloves, surgical masks, headgear, and others. Face protection is of utmost importance as the aerosols of the infected person directly enters through the nose and mouth. Therefore, the mask acts as a protection to minimize the severe effects of the disease. The importance of facemasks was truly acknowledged during the SARS epidemic in 2003, followed by H1N1/H5N1, and most recently, coronavirus in 2019. Facemasks provided 90-95% of effectiveness in blocking the transmission during such epidemics. Increasing demand for a surgical mask, increasing prevalence of the infectious respiratory diseases, and awareness among the population about the importance of face protection has tremendously impacted the sales of the medical mask from past few years.
Controlling the effects of infectious respiratory diseases will only fall at a place if the system has stringent guidelines on hygiene. Besides medical practitioners and other medical staff there is a lesser awareness among the population. Epidemics have forced governments across several countries to set new guidelines and impose a strict action on violators. The World Health Organization, in April 2020 issued an interim guideline document for advising the use of medical masks. The document extrapolates detailed guidelines on how to use a mask, who are advised to wear a mask, etc. Moreover, due to the CoVID-19 pandemic, the health departments across several countries have issued guideline documents to increase awareness and promote usage of the medical mask. For instance, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India, Department of Health of Minnesota, Vermont Department of Health, Occupational Safety and Health Organization (OSHA) of the U.S., and many others have proposed guidelines in accordance to the usage of the mask. Such mandatory imposing has brought awareness across the world and eventually lead to an increase in the demand for the medical mask, including surgical face mask, N95 mask, procedural mask, cloth mask, and others. Therefore, surveillance of the government authorities had a greater impact on the usage of the mask thus propelling its demand and sales. MARKET DRIVERS Increasing Prevalence of Respiratory Diseases to Stimulate Market Value Contagious respiratory diseases have seen to be rising over the years. Although the disease spreads due to a deadly pathogen, factors such as growing pollution, improper hygiene, smoking habits, and lower immunization expedite the spread of the disease; causing it to be a pandemic or an epidemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that epidemics result in about 3 to 5 million cases and more than lakhs of deaths worldwide. For example, CoVID-19 resulted in more than 2.4 million cases worldwide in 2020. The increasing prevalence of respiratory diseases has surged the usage and sales of the N95 and surgical masks, therefore marking a higher market value. Growing awareness among the people about the significant use and effectiveness of the masks is anticipated to have a positive impact on the market size for medical mask, in the coming years. Additionally, rising surgeries and hospitalization would also contribute to the exponential medical mask market growth value during the forecast period. Increase of Sales of Medical Mask to Expedite Market Growth To ensure safety of the medical staff, nurses, employees, cooperative efforts are incorporated from everyone. High effectiveness (up to 95%) of the mask such as N95 has increased the adoption among the people and healthcare workers. The major expedition in the sales of the mask was observed in 2019-2020 owing to the epidemic of CoVID-19. For instance, the epicenter of the coronavirus, China, had an increase of about 60% in the online sales of the facemasks. Similarly, in the U.S. facemask sales marked an increase of more than 300% in the same period according to the data from Nielson. Growing adoption of surgical, N95 masks among the population to ensure safety and protectiveness has exceedingly increased the current demand-supply equation of the medical masks market. MARKET RESTRAINT Medical Mask Shortage to Restrict the Market Growth The demand for a mask in a general scenario is low as only the doctors, medical staff, or industries where people have to work in a hazardous environment utilize it. On the flip side, a sudden epidemic or pandemic surges the demand leading to a shortage. Shortages usually take place when manufacturers are not prepared for worse situations or when epidemics lead to a ban on exports and imports. For example, during CoVID-19 many countries including the U.S, China, India, parts of Europe fell shortage of masks thus hampering the sales. Shortages eventually led to a decrease in sales restricting market growth. Moreover, the economic impact caused due to epidemics is also responsible to lower the market growth of the medical mask as it leads to an increase in production but a decrease in the sales value of the product.
Post time: Jul-03-2023