As Covid surges in China, so is spending by funeral providers

A FUNERAL parlour in the Chinese city of Shantou has published a tender for an “emergency purchase” of two cremation ovens, according to a government procurement database, in one of several indications of Covid-19’s deadly toll in the country.

Meanwhile, a funeral service centre in the city of Zigong in Sichuan province bought 196,230 litres of diesel, a 40 per cent increase from its annual average. It explained that its supply was “almost exhausted”.

Neither facility cited a surge in Covid-related deaths as the reason for their purchases. But documents showed that spending by funeral homes on items from body bags to cold-storage containers has risen in many provinces since China abruptly ended its zero-Covid policy in early December 2022.

The two facilities could not be reached for comment.

Covid rampaged across China after containment measures were relaxed, extracting a heavy death toll on its population of 1.4 billion. Widespread reports of crowded hospitals and crematoriums pointed to far more deaths than those included in official data.

Health experts said the country’s official figures likely did not reflect the true toll of the virus. China reported that nearly 60,000 people with Covid had died in hospitals between Dec 8 and Jan 12, a roughly tenfold increase from previous disclosures. But this figure excluded those who died at home.

Some doctors also said they were discouraged from listing Covid on death certificates.

A review of publicly available tenders from government-run mortuary facilities showed a rise in equipment purchases starting in early December 2022, compared with the same period a year earlier.

Tender documents showed that in the eastern city of Anqing, a funeral parlour spent about 1.6 million yuan (S$312,072) between Dec 19 and Jan 4 on two large cars to transport coffins, an expansion of its power supply, and freezers to store bodies.

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“My organisation’s original freezer cannot meet existing business needs, urgently need to purchase 30 single-drawer freezers now,” the facility said in a tender.

A similar purchase was made two weeks later, in the smaller city of Jieshou.

“In recent times in Jieshou city, the cremation business volume has increased, the funeral hall’s remains refrigerator cannot meet the current unit demand. Now need to purchase 10 units of all-in-one three-door freezers, for a total investment of about 400,000 yuan,” a tender for the purchase read. The facility making the purchase could not be reached for comment.

In Guangdong – China’s most populous province – where Shantou city is located, funeral homes spent more than 130 million yuan between Dec 7 and Jan 6 on various items. This was up from 90 million yuan in the same period the previous year, according to a provincial government database.

Noting the jump in demand, Hangtai, a manufacturer of incinerators in Shandong province, published an advertisement for its services on its WeChat account.

“In December 2022, the country adjusted its Covid policy, the cremation business of funeral parlours surged, and the demand for cremation equipment from funeral parlours in some areas increased,” it said.

The advertisement for its “quick-assembly intelligent” incinerator stressed the ease and speed with which the machine could function. It also emphasised how the incinerator was “the ideal choice for funeral homes to cope with the current surge in business and the need for additional cremation equipment”.

“Hangtai engineers and technicians have actively responded to the market demand, by working around the clock to make further improvements around the technical aspects of fast installation, convenience and durability,” the advertisement read.

Hangtai said its 40,000 square metre plant was at full production capacity “working overtime 24 hours to meet the urgent procurement needs of customers”.

On Dec 29, Hangtai beat out eight competitors for one of the largest recent bids, a 23 million yuan deal in Guangzhou. More than half of the amount was for eight incinerators, according to publicly available documents reviewed by Reuters.

A Hangtai employee declined to comment. REUTERS