The healthcare personal protective equipment (PPE) industry has witnessed unprecedented global demand for its products during the COVID-19 pandemic. Government stockpiles in some countries quickly proved inadequate as healthcare facilities became overwhelmed with patients. Healthcare PPE demand has gone beyond available inventories for most products, with order backlogs ranging from 6 to 12 months creating bottlenecks for manufacturers.

Face masks and gloves accounted for the lion’s share of market revenue in 2019, and this will remain the case in 2020. Frost & Sullivan projects revenue for surgical masks and exam gloves to witness faster growth because of the surge in use. Higher demand for coveralls/gowns and goggles/face shields will boost revenue globally, but much will depend on the capability of supply chain to meet this demand.

Major healthcare PPE manufacturers have ramped up production in order to meet the growing demand. Some governments have encouraged or compelled non-traditional manufacturers to help in these efforts; other companies have volunteered. Incidents of counterfeit and substandard PPE products entering the market are on the rise, creating safety concerns among healthcare workers, patients, and other consumers.

Lessons learned from this pandemic will help in preparedness planning for future crises, and present short- and long-term growth opportunities for manufacturers. Governments are promising to build healthcare PPE stockpiles and already are making bulk purchases; some are relaxing policies to allow for non-medical-grade PPE to be used in emergencies. Manufacturers will be under renewed pressure to build domestic production capacities and surge capacities to reduce the dependence on imports. Frost & Sullivan expects industrial PPE companies to become more active in the healthcare PPE space.