Chaomei Daily Chemicals Co Ltd, a manufacturer of face masks located in the county-level city of Jiande, Zhejiang province, is seeking ways to expand its production capacity for both domestic and foreign markets amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

With an increasing number of orders being placed from around the world, the company has decided to build a new 6,550-square-meter factory to deal with the rising global demand for masks. The new factory is expected to begin operating within six months and produce 300,000 masks per day.

Lin Yanfeng, general manager of Chaomei, said that by early April, more than 10 million face masks had been exported and that every day, dozens of vehicles are available at the company to transport goods.

Before the outbreak of the virus, the company produced about 20,000 masks per day, most of which were used by workers at industrial enterprises. Now the company is producing 400,000 masks per day.

"We called employees back into work in late January and reconstructed five production lines," said Lin, adding that to meet market demand, the company started developing a variety of masks, including some for children.

Chaomei promised not to mark up its products or stop operating during the Spring Festival holiday. "We are trying our best to fight the pandemic with the rest of the world," said Lin.