October 19, 2007

More than 16 million pigs insured in China under government scheme

According to latest statistics released by the Chinese government, more than 16 million heads of pigs had been insured, two months after the government introduced an insurance scheme to protect hog farmers.

Majority of the pigs insured were sows. The latest release showed that one-sixth of the sow inventory in China had already been insured.

Under the scheme announced in August, farmers need to pay only 20 percent of the animal insurance bill. The central and local government will cover a respective 50 percent and 30 percent of the premium. Each pig is insured for RMB1,600.

With the government's initiation of animal insurance schemes nationwide, Chinese insurance companies are seeing a big jump in gross premiums collected.

The People's Insurance Company of China reported that gross premium for the first nine months had reached RMB1.82 billion, an eight-fold increase compared with 2007.

RMB1=US$0.1331 (Oct 19)