Saudi Basic Industries : SABIC’s Polymer Solutions Enable First-ever Local Production of N95 Masks

The journey toward localizing the production of hygiene and personal protection equipment reached an important milestone as the Saudi Mais Company for Medical Products applied SABIC's polymer solutions to produce N95 masks in Saudi Arabia for the first time, using SABIC's polypropylene.

Produced in collaboration with Demas Factory for Non-Woven Fabrics, the N95 mask obtained the necessary approvals after conforming to the Saudi Food and Drug Authority specifications.

Yousef Al-Benyan, SABIC Vice Chairman and CEO, said that SABIC is strongly committed to contributing toward achieving Saudi Vision 2030 goals through NUSANED™, a SABIC national initiative that enables the development of strategic industries and supports national companies to maximize local content. He said that SABIC is working closely with local manufacturers to create innovative and sustainable solutions and is developing the necessary raw materials to produce quality products.

Al-Benyan added that the local production of masks is an important step in localizing medical products that contribute toward improving public health. He noted that the NUSANED™ initiative covers a wide base of entrepreneurs and local manufacturers to help localize strategic industries and transfer the necessary technologies.

A team from SABIC visited Demas and Mais factories where they met with company executives who valued the efforts exerted by SABIC through its NUSANED™ initiative in producing the first-ever raw materials to manufacture N95 masks entirely from innovative national materials. They stressed that this successful engagement reflected the importance of collaboration between the private and public sectors to support national products and localize the hygiene and personal protection equipment industry.

SABIC launched a Hygiene and Healthcare unit in September to further expand its market focus and adopt innovation to respond promptly to customer needs, and provide more focused solutions. The aim was to keep pace with the world's changing requirements by promoting the contribution of petrochemicals to the medical equipment sector. This was especially necessitated after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting the global supply chains of hygiene products and leading to severe restrictions on medical product exports in many countries.