Sales of face masks rocket amid heavy pollution

The worst air quality on record in China's capital boosted sales of face masks Sunday, especially ones designed to filter fine particles, but many sellers complained that they have insufficient inventory to cope with the unexpected boom.

"We urgently prepared 700 3M-9010 face masks for sales today," Wang Yang, a customer service representative at the 3M Tmall store, told the Global Times Sunday.

"The weather has been bad recently and many customers asked for the masks," Wang said, adding that the inventory will be replenished Monday.

N95 category facial masks are those that have been tested by the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to filter 95 percent of the fine particles in the air.

They were used widely during the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003, and are back in demand again after Beijing reported the worst air quality on record Saturday and Sunday.

Data posted by the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center showed Sunday that particulate matter measuring less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5) had reached more than 700 micrograms per square meter at some monitoring stations, and was as high as 900 Saturday evening.

The level is 35-45 times above recommended safety levels.

The monitoring center said that the conditions would last until Tuesday and suggested that people stay indoors.

The 3M N95 face mask sells for up to 30 yuan ($4.8) at drug stores, but "all are sold out," said a clerk at Chaoyang Pharmacy, a drug store in Beijing's CBD area. "Even the ordinary masks sold quickly," he said.

Sales of the masks in the last couple of days were more than 10 times the average, Fan Fucheng, who runs a Taobao store selling 3M face masks, told the Global Times Sunday.