(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-01-16 20:19

Chinese farmers, who are not well protected against all kinds of risks for lack of proper insurance products, can expect to see more of them come under the insurance umbrella as the country started to promote micro-insurance products in rural areas.

The micro-insurance products are tailored for low-income people, as they require a relatively lower annual premium. China's insurance regulator said the country's micro-insurance products would mainly target farmers and low-income urbanites.

Despite some progress in the fledging sector, "the country's current micro-insurance products were not fully matching the demand of farmers," Wu Dingfu, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) Chairman, said earlier.

Relevant services were also lagging behind, and the situation was compounded with a lack of long-term policy support for micro-insurance and dull distribution of such products in rural areas, he added.

The commission was currently considering support policies for micro-insurance to achieve the sustainable and healthy development of it, said CIRC's vice chairman Li Kemu on Wednesday, echoing a statement posted on its website a few days ago which vowed to "do its best" to promote micro-insurance.

The commission said it would establish an evaluation mechanism for such micro-insurance products and explore more distribution channels to promote such products, while at the same time encourage insurers to introduce more of such products.

However, it did not elaborate on what measures would be taken to motivate the insurers.

There were already a range of such micro-insurance products available on the market, as insurance companies came up with new products to grasp opportunities in the vast rural areas.

For instance, a micro life insurance product developed by the country's largest life insurer China Life offered an eight-time refund on an annual premium of 100 yuan (US$13.8) for farmers to guard against fatal accidents.

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