COVID-19 virus keeps spreading to people everywhere for a year already. To prevent the virus, we wash our hands more often than usual and wear medical masks. Even though it is not so comfortable to breathe when we wear it, medical masks have become the essential items to prevent the virus from spreading. Also, recently, medical masks that are made in South Korea are high - demand in many countries.

▲ South Korean masks being sent to the US

Until June 20th, 2020, the medical masks that were exported abroad are about 33,390,000$. Until February 2020, it was more than 154,140,000$ because China imported most of the medical masks that are exported abroad in February. However, South Korea's government prohibited Korean medical masks from being exported because of the lack of medical masks in South Korea. Economists say that this phenomenon is happening currently because the South Korean government has released the export prohibiting of medical masks.

▲ KF 94 mask

▲ KF 80 mask

There are many kinds of masks that are exported to other countries, such as dental medical masks, filtered medical masks, and more. Since Koreans prefer medical dental masks more than medical filtered masks because of breathing, KF94, and KF80 are the kinds of masks that are the most exported medical masks to other countries. Many countries such as China, the USA, Russia, and others are importing "made in Korea" masks. The USA is the country that imports medical masks that are made in South Korea the most. Over half of the exported medical masks are sent to the USA by plane. Over 1,670,000 medical masks are sent to the USA.

Many other countries are also importing Korean medical masks. Medical companies announced officially that the companies will continue producing and exporting medical masks abroad, and economists say that they are expecting to have a good result from it. Because of the COVID-19 virus, exporting medical masks became another issue in South Korea, and South Korea's economics can also get benefits from exporting masks to other countries.

2021/3/13 by Jeon Seung Hyun