Helping to develop insurance markets in China

Throughout 2015, we continued to take an active role in the expanding insurance markets of China. For example, we helped to develop China’s first weather index insurance programme to protect cotton production against low temperatures. It was launched as a pilot in the Xinjiang region, which grows 60% of the country’s cotton. While perils such as drought, hail and wind are covered by a government-subsidised agricultural insurance programme, this has not been the case for yield losses due to low temperatures. If the pilot providing protection of RMB 7.6 million (USD 1.2 million) proves to be effective, it will be expanded to the whole region.

We also signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the provincial government of Heilongjiang on the future rollout of an index-based insurance pilot covering natural disaster risks to its agricultural sector. This builds on previous efforts we have undertaken to improve insurance protection in Heilongjiang, which, as China’s biggest crop producer, is key to its food security.