The sales revenue of Taizhou-based Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical Co Ltd soars 31 percent year-on-year to 1.57 billion yuan ($224 million) in the first quarter of this year. [Photo/huahaipharm.com]

The sales revenue of Taizhou-based Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical Co Ltd soared 31 percent year-on-year to 1.57 billion yuan ($224 million) in the first quarter of this year, according to Guo Sijia, executive vice-president of Huahai Pharmaceutical.

Guo said that the company's growth amid the COVID-19 outbreak is due to the way it responded to difficulties with practical solutions.

In order to resume operations as soon as possible, the company established a working team to formulate and implement a plan on epidemic prevention and control.

To smooth out transportation routes, Huahai Pharmaceutical has applied for more than 30 interprovincial traffic permits to transport manufacturing supplies from other provinces and shifted to shipping their products to foreign customers.

To solve staff shortages, the company sent charted buses to retrieve employees who returned to their hometowns for the Spring Festival and recruited new employees, especially innovative technical personnel.

"Although the pandemic has brought many uncertainties to the global economy, there are still opportunities for us," noted Guo, who added that they have expanded their international market thanks to the timely response to the new demand of foreign customers.

Founded in 1989, Huahai Pharmaceutical is one of the world's main suppliers of cardiovascular and mental health products, which has established long-term cooperative relations with more than 500 pharmaceutical companies worldwide and exported products to roughly 200 countries and regions.