Nation beefs up soybean breeding to boost yield NORTHEAST China’s Heilongjiang Province, the country’s leading soybean production base, has selected 23 new soybean varieties for breeders, as the government has been committed to the breeding efforts in order to boost the yield, quality, and disease resistance of the crop. The Heilongjiang provincial science and technology department has implemented a biological breeding program to breed the new soybean varieties. Heilongjiang’s soybean planting area accounts for more than 40 percent of the country’s total. Company launches insurance product for hair loss ONLINE insurer Zhong An has launched an insurance product for people suffering from hair loss, the first of its kind in the country. According to the company, the “anti-hair loss insurance” product offers policyholders a measure of financial support for scalp and hair problems, as well as follicular unit transplantation. Established in 2013, Zhong An was China’s first online insurance company, operating entirely online and without physical outlets like traditional insurers. Pork prices fall PORK prices in China went down last month, official data showed. The average pork price index in 16 provincial-level regions tracked by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs was 16.79 yuan (US$2.65) per kg in February, down 13.1 percent month on month. The price index dropped 55.2 percent compared with the same period last year, narrowing by 2.4 percentage points from the previous month’s decrease. The National Development and Reform Commission announced last month that pork would be stockpiled to replenish state reserves, as the national average of pork prices against grain prices had dropped below a warning level. Used car sales rise THE country’s used car sales climbed 3.71 percent year on year in January, according to a report released by the China Passenger Car Association. A total of 1.48 million used cars changed hands in China in the period, within which basic passenger car sales came in at 891,500 units, up 2.59 percent year on year, said the report. The sales of used sports utility vehicles surged 23.87 percent year on year to 186,300 units, while that of secondhand multi-purpose vehicles went up 2.27 percent to 83,300 units. | 