There will be no restriction in face mask exports from South Korea starting Friday, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on Tuesday.

The country has been controlling outbound shipments of face masks to ensure sufficient supplies at home to protect people from Covid-19 infections. It is lifting the restrictions upon judging domestic supply levels are stable.

In the third week of this month, the country produced total 194.4 million masks with inventory levels at local mask manufacturers reaching 760 million. The high supply of face masks also led high-protection K-94 face mask prices to fall to 1,506 won ($1.33) on average in the third week of September from 2,701 won in the fourth week of February, at offline retail outlets.

Until now, local mask producers have been allowed to export only up to half of their monthly output under the government order to prioritize supplies for domestic use. There will be no cap starting Friday. The government will also remove special export rules, such as reporting to authorities for shipping out more than 3,000 masks as well as getting a special permission for selling more than 200,000 masks abroad.

By Chung Ji-sung and Cho Jeehyun

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]