Jan. 22, 2007 (China Knowledge) – PICC Property and Casualty Company <2328>, the largest non- life insurer in the Mainland, said its forecast pretax profit for 2006 would rise more than 80% due to its investment earnings from the stock market.

The company had reported pretax profit of RMB 2.2 billion in 2005.

The insurer's premium income in 2006 jumped 8.2% to RMB 71.3 billion. Out of this figure, investment returns gained 7.57 percentage points to 9.24% last year.

China’s fast-growing insurance market grew 14.4% to RMB 564.1 billion last year due to growing demand for insurance coverage, China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) said.

At yesterday’s annual insurance conference held by CIRC in Beijing, Chinese insurance companies were encouraged to develop more affordable and innovative products for farmers and migrant workers. Statistics from the CIRC show that agriculture insurance premiums jumped 16.2% last year, hitting RMB 850 million.