Recorded agriculture insurance premiums in Shandong were only 326,100 yuan (US$40,705.51) in the first quarter of this year, down 3.85 percent from the same period last year and comprising only 0.02 percent of total property premiums in the province, according to statistics from the Shandong Insurance Regulatory Bureau.

The high risk of agriculture insurance results in few insurers. PICC Property and Casualty (PICC P&C) began offering insurance in 1982. Its annual premiums have decreased since from over 100 million yuan (US$12.48 million) to less than ten million yuan (US$1.25 million) with an over 117 percent average loss ratio.

Crop insurance expenses account for two to 15 percent of PICC P&C's total value, far higher than that of other property insurance, but its customers are mostly poor farmers who can't afford high expenses.

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The full text is available in the June Issue of China Insurance.

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