Agricultural risks

Agricultural risks have taken on greater importance in our portfolio in recent years. While the insurance density in western industrial nations is relatively high – 80% of agricultural land in the United States is insured, for example – it is rather low in developing and emerging markets. Yet here, too, agricultural insurance is increasingly being adopted as a means of risk protection. The deregulation of the Brazilian market is just one of the factors that have led to sharply rising premium income. All in all, growing demand can be observed worldwide for reinsurance capacities in the area of agricultural covers. Our company, for its part, has launched new products and cemented our shares in traditional markets. In developing markets such as Brazil, Peru, China, Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe – where we are one of the market leaders – we have also gained shares.

We considerably boosted our premium volume.

Losses resulted from bush fires in Australia, forest fires in Chile as well as the damage caused in South America by extreme drought conditions.