Farmers run tractors through wheat fields in Suqian, East China's Jiangsu Province on Thursday, right after the weeklong Spring Festival holiday. Around China, 22 million tractors and various types of specialized agricultural machinery are at the ready, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Photo: VCG

Chinese agricultural shares from breeding firms to seed companies rallied on Monday following the government's overnight release of the white paper for 2021 which renewed emphasis on the country's agricultural sector such as tackling core bottlenecks in rural technologies and strengthening homegrown seeds breeding system. 

Agricultural shares surged by 2.56 percent in general at the opening Monday morning, with one share, the Xinjiang Sailimu Modern Agriculture Co, touching the daily trading ceiling of 10 percent. 

On Monday morning, seeds companies saw their shares rocket up, with shares of Anhui-based Fengle Seed rising by 3.85 percent at 10:00 am, while shares of the Liaoning-based Denghai Seed edging up by 2.15 percent.

The document attached particular importance to the seed breading industry, saying that seed is the "foundation" of agricultural modernization and that China should "fight a turnaround" in seed industry by measures such as speeding up the development of crop germplasm resources.

The requirement has been raised after the pandemic has affected the food supply chain and global food prices, and as China has historically been overly reliant upon imported seeds. 

The document emphasized that China should speed up to establish a modern breeding system, protect hog breeding capacities, and improve the long-term system to guarantee the stable and orderly development. 

Agribusiness and hog-raising giant New Hope Group saw its shares rise by 5.73 percent at 10:11 am, while breeding company Haid Group saw shares rise by 2.6 percent. 

Global Times