Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) reported on Friday that mainland Chinese companies are reaping huge profits selling face masks to combat the virus unleashed upon the world by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

One Chinese manufacturer literally described its operation as a license to print money.

Numerous factories were converted to face mask production in February, as the virus was rampaging across China and beginning to spread across the globe. One of the top customers for Chinese face masks is reportedly Italy, which is suffering through the Western world’s worst outbreak of the disease.

According to Chinese data cited by RTHK, some 8,950 manufacturers began producing face masks this year, some of them converting from garment production and other industries that were already working with fabric. They are very pleased with their profits, according to the report:

“A mask machine is a real cash printer,” said Shi Xinghui, sales manager of an N95 mask machine company in Dongguan city, Guangdong province. “The profit of a mask now is at least several cents compared to less than one in the past. Printing 60,000 or 70,000 masks a day is equivalent to printing money.” Qi Guangtu has put more than 50 million yuan into his factory producing mask-making machines in the southern industrial hub of Dongguan. It has been in 24-hour continuous production since January 25 – two days after the dramatic lockdown of Wuhan, where the virus first emerged. “Cost recovery is certainly not a problem,” he said, adding that 70 sets of equipment have been sold for more than 500,000 yuan each. He has more than 200 additional orders in hand, worth over 100 million yuan. “The machines pay for themselves in 15 days, ” said Qi, saying the investment is worth it for his clients.

Some new manufacturers were able to spin up mask production in as little as ten days. Fabric prices surged by thousand-percent margins as demand skyrocketed in Dongguan, whose businessmen now regard it as the world’s factory for medical mask production. Skilled experts who can help in fabricating and testing masks are reportedly fetching ten times their previous salaries. Factory managers in Dongguan said their profits remain high despite these soaring costs.