(Yicai Global) Feb. 18 -- Shares of Chinese medical instrument maker Contec Medical Systems soared after the firm said its Covid-19 test kit has been approved for exporting.

Contec's stock price [SHE: 300869] jumped by the daily upper limit of 20 percent to CNY41.2 (USD6.50). The shares are still nearly 60 percent down over the past 12 months.

The China Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Medicines & Health Products has included Contec's rapid antigen test kit in its whitelist, the Qinhuangdao-based firm said in a statement yesterday. The CCCMHPIE controls which medical companies can gain export qualifications.

Contec secured a registration certificate with the European Union for the product last month, it said then.

Early during the Covid-19 pandemic, the company recorded quickly rising sales. In 2020, Contec's net profit jumped more than eight times from 2019 while its revenue almost tripled. But in the first three quarters of 2021, its net profit and sales were lower than during the same period of 2020, as the pandemic was increasingly brought under control at home and abroad.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi