PICC Property & Casualty Co's underwriting operations should be profitable this year, said Wu Yan, chairman of China's biggest non-life insurer.
The operation "should be able to achieve" the goal of making a profit even amid flooding in some parts of China, he told a forum in Shanghaion Saturday.
PICC's profit jumped 16-fold last year as the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index surged 80 percent, boosting investment returns. Underwriting losses narrowed 21 percent to 2.06 billion yuan ($302 million), as net premium growth outpaced increases in claims.
Natural disasters this year, including droughts, a deadly earthquake in Qinghai province, and floods in southern China, haven't caused losses on the same scale as the Sichuan earthquake and snowstorms in 2008, when PICC's payouts climbed to 60.7 billion yuan, Wu said May 18. PICC paid out 64.5 billion yuan in 2009.
Flooding in southern China has killed at least 211 people, left 119 missing and displaced 2.4 million as of June 23, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Direct economic losses are estimated at 43.3 billion yuan ($6.35 billion), including the collapse of 215,000 housing units and complete destruction of crops on 277,800 hectares of land.
