The protective face masks market is poised to showcase sustainable growth through 2022 and 2030 owing to the emergence of novel infectious diseases, and world government efforts to establish a pandemic-ready infrastructure. Increasing initiatives by health agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO), and Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) to spread awareness regarding multiple benefits of protective face masks is also expected to accelerate the market outlook.

During the Covid-19 outbreak, various governments cross the globe deployed stringent regulations over the use of protective face masks, respirators, and protective personal equipment (PPE) kits. While mask usage was already a common phenomenon across some East Asian nations prior to the pandemic, their utilization has become more common across the rest of the world since March of 2020.

Although the ongoing vaccination drives have brought the use of mask down, in some aspects of our day-to-day lives, they still remain to be mandated, air travel being a prominent example. Being one of the key reasons the virus managed to spread throughout the world, the aviation sector has not shown any indications to show leniency to the mandates, especially considering that the virus still maintains a prominent case load across a number of regions. These industry situations would be fostering industry expansion through the analysis time period.

According to the revised 2021 Enforcement Policy for Face Masks & Respirators During Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Public Health Emergency, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) had accelerated the availability of protective masks, surgical masks, respirators and barrier face coverings. In addition to regulatory flexibility in expanding the duration of Covid-19 public health emergency, the FDA had also issued emergency use authorization (EUAs) for surgical masks, respirators, and protective face masks subject to select criteria.

The extended presence of the virus and the rate at which it manages to mutate into different strains has fostered product demand despite the increasing number of people vaccinated worldwide.

Recently in May 2022, Honeywell launched two new respiratory protection solutions for healthcare workers. The first PPE, the next-gen DC365 Small Surgical N95 Respirator, which essentially caters to frontline workers with smaller facial features. The second, the Honeywell RUX8500X series, which features a filtered exhalation valve, HEPA P100 filter, and reusable respirator for healthcare workers with 10-hour or longer shifts.

Fuelled by a stable presence of opportunities, several healthcare organizations have been investing towards the expansion of their footprint. In March of 2022, Cardinal Health, a leading medical solutions manufacturer and distributer plans to create a new medical distribution center in Ohio, U.S. to ramp up the company’s medical distribution footprint nationwide. Cardinal aims to better address customer needs by integrating technology and automation to improve quality, safety, service, and ensure operational efficiencies.

The global protective face mask market is categorized into product, end-use, and region.

Based on product, the overall industry is fragmented into face shields, surgical masks, procedure masks, and N95 respirators. Among these, the face shield product segment valuation is estimated to exceed $923.0 million by 2030.

In terms of end-use, protective face mask market is classified into research institutes, LTCs, ASCs, individuals, hospitals & clinics, and others. In 2021, protective face mask market share from individual end-use segment was around 13.3%.

From regional perspective, Latin America protective face mask market accounted for revenue share of approximately $590.5 million in 2021.

Meanwhile, the protective face mask market in Middle East and Africa is projected to exhibit sustainable growth of around 2.5% CAGR between the forecast years of 2022 and 2030.